Highlights
- Qantas mulls resuming direct Australia-India flights post-COVID
- 'Australia must rethink flight arrival caps if they want to do business with us': India's civil aviation ministry
- To make flight viable, the price must be right and service exceptional, say travel agent and frequent flyer
Talking about Qantas' “flight path out of COVID-19”, the airline’s Alan Joyce, Group CEO has indicated his watchful interest in tapping the Australia-India aviation sector.
“We’re going to be looking for new international opportunities, and India’s just a matter of time... we have to wait and see what happens after the COVID outbreak, which markets respond and grow back,” said Mr Joyce at the recent Reuters Next Virtual Forum.
Speaking at the international media summit, Mr Joyce added, “we are always keeping an eye on it. We think at some stage, India – with the traffic levels, the economic activity and the links with Australia – will get to a sustainable service, and we think when it reaches that point, we’ll add it on.”
India’s burgeoning population, the rising disposable income of its middle class coupled with their increased international travel and the country’s emergence as an economic power over the past 15 years could well support the Qantas chief’s reflection.
Qantas Group Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce. Source: AAP
This, read along with the growth of Australia’s Indian community over the past decade, explains the high air traffic between the two countries.
Do big numbers mean big business?
Latest data on international arrivals by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released on January 15 (see tables below) also shines a light on Qantas’ contemplation of resuming direct flights between Australia and India.
The financial year 2019-20 saw 284,800 short-term visitor arrivals from India, i.e., passengers arriving on Australian shores on tourist visas.
In the same duration, the ABS recorded short-term resident return arrivals at 347,300. These passengers were permanent residents and citizens of Australia who flew in from India.
ABS data on overseas arrivals and departures in Australia in November 2020. Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Commonwealth of Australia
‘India is open for business’
Commenting on Mr Joyce’s statement, a spokesperson from India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation told SBS Punjabi that based on India’s swift COVID vaccination drive, market size and economic growth, not only Qantas, but many other international airlines are interested in expanding their services there.
“We are currently operating 24 international air bubbles. During COVID, we reached our peak in the domestic aviation sector. So, we are open for business. The whole world is interested in India. But Australia would have to reconsider their entry restrictions if they want to do business with us,” said the source.
Currently, repatriation flights from India to Australia (Qantas and Air India) are not being operated at full capacity due to entry restrictions imposed by Australia.
Picture for representational purpose only. Source: Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Advantage Air India
Qantas has operated direct flights to India in the recent past, but the numbers didn’t favour the business, hence these were discontinued several years ago.
“We've tried to serve it in a number of different ways previously – we had Sydney-Mumbai direct, and Sydney-Darwin-Mumbai at one stage when I was running the network for Qantas, and it never made any money,” he said at the Reuters summit.
In the pre-COVID days, only Air India operated direct flights between the two countries. It flew 12 hours non-stop between New Delhi and Melbourne and Mumbai and Sydney.
‘Affordability leads to viability’
Brijesh Kumar of Mann Travel, a Melbourne-based travel agency which specialises in Australia-India travel, says should Qantas resume direct flights with India, the customer stands to gain as competition will improve service and fares.
“Pre-COVID, we would receive nearly 2000 queries every month for the Air India flights to India and around 70 per cent of those would convert to actual business for us. So it is a viable and feasible idea for Qantas but their pricing will determine their success,” he says.
Brijesh Kumar is a sales executive with Mann Travel. Source: Brijesh Kumar
Mr Kumar adds that Australia’s Indian community prefers hopping flights to India via South East Asian countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand as they are cheaper.
“Primarily, the elderly, who want to avoid halting on the way to India because of mobility or linguistic issues, preferred the Air India flight. Or, businesspersons hard-pressed for time would fly Air India because it was a 12-hour non-stop journey. It was pricier than the others by $300 at least,” he says.
‘Break Air India’s monopoly’
Ashish Vohra, a Melbourne-based businessman would travel to India every three months before Australia’s border restrictions came into place in March 2020. He usually flew Thai Airways or Singapore Airlines to New Delhi.
“I’ll be overjoyed if Qantas starts flying direct to India again. I’ve flown with them from Mumbai before they discontinued that flight,” he adds.
Mr Vohra believes breaking monopolies is always favourable for the market as a whole.
“I expect the Qantas direct flight to be pricier than the hopping flights via South East Asia but I won’t mind paying extra for the good service for which they are known,” he says.
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