Photo-Qantas
By SAT News Desk
MELBOURNE, 22 November 2021: There’s good news for Indian-origin Australians as the Qantas has announced a new passenger route from Melbourne to Delhi, starting 22 December.
Victoria is home to the largest Indian population in Australia, with more than 209,000 Victorians of Indian heritage recorded at the 2016 Census, and hosts leading Indian businesses including Cyient, HCL Technologies, Infosys, State Bank of India, TCS, Tech Mahindra and Wipro.
With quarantine-free travel now available for fully vaccinated international travellers, including international students returning under the state’s International Student Arrivals Plan, the availability of a Melbourne-Delhi flight will help revitalise trade, tourism, international education, skilled migration and business connections.
The new Melbourne-Delhi flight will operate four times a week, year-round. Same day connections will also be available from Brisbane, Sydney and Canberra. Flights from Melbourne to Delhi will initially operate via Adelaide, while flights from Delhi to Melbourne will operate nonstop.
This follows the recent announcement of flights from Sydney to Delhi, which start next month. When this route went on sale, Qantas saw the fastest booking surge for flights leaving Australia since the airline announced its international restart plans in August.
Minister for Industry Support and Recovery and Minister for Trade Martin Pakula joined Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce and Melbourne Airport chief executive Lyell Strambi at Melbourne Airport today as passengers on flight QF35 departed for Singapore. The Qantas international flight took off again today for the first time in 20 months after the pandemic grounded international travel.
Minister for Industry Support and Recovery and Minister for Trade Martin Pakula said, “A vibrant international aviation sector is what makes Melbourne a truly global city and reviving the visitor economy is key to our economic recovery.”
“The new service to Delhi is wonderful news for our large Indian community as well as Indian business leaders, investors, international students and visitors.”
“We’re opening up to boost jobs, trade and tourism and most importantly, help Victoria bounce back bigger and better than ever.”
QF35 is the first Qantas international passenger flight to depart Melbourne since March 2020, with flights to London and Los Angeles to resume in the next few weeks.
The resumption of international flights will drive the recovery of the state’s international aviation sector which directly employs 6,700 people and supports thousands of other jobs.
Before the pandemic, international flights brought more than 3.1 million international visitors to Victoria each year and injected $8.8 billion of tourism expenditure into the economy.
