The new frontier: Air travel between Australia and India

What's behind the phenomenal growth in direct services between Australia and India?

The Australia-India market has exploded in recent years, with phenomenal growth in both passenger numbers and airline capacity. This should be no surprise to most Australians and Indians given the growing economic, political and cultural ties between the countries.

The economic and political partnership has been reinforced by the establishment of a free trade agreement between the countries, while the cultural ties are more than just cricket, as Indian migration to Australia has grown tremendously over the last two decades.

Yet, direct airline capacity between Australia and India has lagged, with anaemic growth until very recently. While contemporary growth has been aided by Australia and India agreeing to open skies in June 2018, recent capacity growth might also reflect the market reaching a pivot point where Australia-India travel is no longer just low yield VFR traffic. Capacity growth has also been assisted by Air India’s growing ambitions since privatisation in 2021, and Qantas’s shifting of capacity from the United States since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Australia and India entered into a de facto open skies agreement in June 2018, allowing airlines of both countries unlimited access between Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, and Kolkota, and Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, and one additional city.

This article analyses the Australia-India market, beginning with contemporary route networks and market demand, and concluding with a quick look at future prospects.