In what could ease the travel travails of the Indian diaspora in Australia, the recently signed Open Sky pact between Australia and India could see improved air connectivity and an increased number of direct flights between the two countries.
Open skies is the international policy for liberalisation of the international aviation industry in order to create a free-market environment. The pact between Australia and India would allow designated airlines to operate any number of flights and allocate any number of seats to six cities in each country.
In spite of the Indian diaspora’s rapid growth in Australia and India being the eighth biggest source country for travellers to Australia, Air India is the currently the only carrier that operates direct flights from India to Australia, while Qantas operates directly from Australia to India with codeshare airline, Jet Airways.
Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Department of Home Affairs figures reveal that Indians have been the biggest source of permanent migration and citizenship to Australia for a number of years.
India was also the fastest growing market for expenditure with over 29 per cent growth in 2017; arrivals from India were up 20 per cent - the second highest growth after Indonesia. Visitor arrivals from India grew 15 per cent in 2017, while expenditure grew at double the rate.
According to Tourism Australia, direct air capacity to India decreased by eight per cent in 2017, while the direct capacity to Singapore increased six times.
Source: Flickr/Dhruvaraj S/licensed under CC BY 2.0
Due to a lack of direct flights, passengers are forced to travel through connecting hubs on airlines such as AirAsia, Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines - often with long layover times, making the journey a painful undertaking for some passengers, especially migrant parents.
According to Indian news agency PTI, IndiGo and Air Vistara, two of India’s domestic airlines are looking to start international operations with an eye on the Australian aviation sector - a development many among the Indian diaspora can’t wait to take advantage of.
“Air India, being the only carrier operating Melbourne-Delhi direct flights, is often more expensive and if you have to travel at short notice, you either buy super expensive tickets or seek connecting alternatives,” says Rajesh Kumar who is visiting his son’s family in Melbourne for the second time.
“It will be good to have more direct flights from Australia to Indian cities. It should ease the prices and give people like us more choice,” he says.
