Australia’s airlines Qantas will start direct flights from Sydney to Bengaluru later this year.
Qantas will operate four weekly return flights from Sydney to Bengaluru (formerly known as Bangalore) from 14 September, using its widebody Airbus A330 aircraft.
“Planned codeshare agreement with India’s largest domestic airline, IndiGo, to provide direct connections to 50 cities; new free trade agreement expected to strengthen demand. Qantas and Jetstar to launch new direct flights between Sydney and Seoul,” Qantas said in a statement.
“Qantas and Jetstar will grow their international network out of Sydney, with new direct routes to India and Korea taking off this year, accelerating New South Wales’ post-COVID tourism recovery,” it added.
Sydney to Bengaluru (Bangalore) direct
Four weekly return flights will be operated from Sydney to Bengaluru from 14 September.
These will be an airline’s first non-stop flights between Australia and southern India and will cut almost three hours off Sydney’s current fastest travel time to Bengaluru, growing technology and financial services hub.
“With a population of 13 million people, the Bengaluru community has strong connections to Australia for business travel and people visiting friends and relatives. These trade connections are expected to strengthen following the recent announcement of the Australia-India free trade agreement,” Qantas said.
Qantas started Sydney-Delhi and Melbourne-Delhi flights last year. It will continue to operate up to five flights a week between Melbourne and Delhi, “making it the only airline offering direct flights between Australia and both northern and southern India.”
Planned codeshare agreement set to open up in India
Qantas says it intends to enter into a codeshare agreement with IndiGo, India’s largest domestic carrier, which will give customers improved one-stop access to more than 50 Indian cities.
“The proposed agreement will mean Qantas passengers can transit seamlessly from Qantas flights in Bengaluru, Delhi, or Singapore onto IndiGo services to other major Indian cities as well as smaller ones such as Pune and Goa,” it said.
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“Under the planned agreement, Qantas Frequent Flyers will be able to earn and redeem points on connecting IndiGo flights (QF code only), and IndiGo will recognise Qantas Frequent Flyer benefits for tiered members (Silver, Gold, Platinum and Platinum One), including priority check-in, additional baggage allowance and priority baggage.”
“Qantas customers travelling on IndiGo will enjoy the same baggage allowance for the entire journey as well as complimentary food and drinks. The partnership will extend to Jetstar customers who will be able to book connecting flights on IndiGo services through its Jetstar Connect platform on jetstar.com from late April.”
