Air India is dropping tag flights between Sydney and Melbourne and will instead offer non-stop services from Delhi to both cities.
The change, which will apply from May 16, will result in Air India flying the Delhi-Sydney route four times a week and offer three weekly Delhi-Melbourne services.
Currently, the Indian flag carrier operates daily triangular routing to Australia with Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners, flying Delhi-Sydney-Melbourne four times a week and Delhi-Melbourne-Sydney three times a week.
The airline is planning a similar move on its European network by ending tag flights between Rome and Milan.
A report in the Business Standard said the changes to its Australian and European networks were designed to help reduce losses on those routes.
Although Air India is the only airline offering non-stop services between Australia and India, the airline competes for passengers with mid-point carriers such as Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Thai Airways, among others.
Air India began flights to Australia in August 2013.
Ante C
says:New Delhi services could be a good option for Qantas if it were to get the 787
Marc
says:When you think about it, there would be enormous opportunity for Qantas to fly to-from UK/Euro via India. There are 20 million Indians with a net worth of at least USD10m.
Russell M
says:No doubt sometime soon, QF will launch “new” (errrr?) services from Australia to India. That would have to be one of the most on again / off again Qantas routes of all time?