Qantas starts Sydney- Delhi flights; Melbourne - Delhi to start before Christmas
Australian carrier Qantas started its first commercial flight to India on December 6, 2021, after almost a decade since the last Australia to India flight in 2012.
QF67 departed Sydney shortly after 06:00 AM local time and will arrive in Delhi after an expected flight time of 15 hours.
According to flight tracker site Flight Aware, QF 67 departed Sydney Kingsfordsmith International Airport (SYD) at 06:15 local time and made a stop in Adelaide. The Airbus A330-200 left Adelaide for Delhi at 09:37 local time, 52 minutes later than scheduled.
It is expected to arrive at Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) at 16:04 , approximately 24 minutes behind schedule.
Qantas is operating three weekly return flights from Sydney to Delhi, which will increase in January 2022, and four weekly return flights from Melbourne to begin from December 22, 2021.
The Melbourne-Delhi flight, with flight number QF69 will depart Melbourne at 09:25 local time every Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, with a short stopover in Adelaide before heading to Delhi for a 18:10 local time arrival.
“We’re thrilled to be beginning commercial flights to India for the first time in almost a decade. There’s a huge amount of pent up demand from friends and family wanting to reunite after being separated for so long,” Qantas Domestic and International CEO Andrew David said in the airline’s press statement.
Image from Qantas
“There was an incredible response when we announced both our new routes to Delhi. Forward bookings for the next few months are well ahead of our initial forecasts so while it’s early days, it’s an exciting start. The level of pent up demand on this route can be seen by the fact that almost all customers travelled as planned despite the temporary three-day additional isolation requirement.”
This is the first time that Qantas has operated a commercial service to India since its Brisbane to Mumbai service ended in 2012. This is also the airline’s first regular passenger flight from Australia to Delhi since 1974.
“There are very strong trade and economic links between Australia and India, and both the Melbourne and Sydney routes will help support that as international travel starts to normalise,” David added.
