Air India has confirmed plans to fly direct to Australia.

The national carrier will launch daily flights from New Delhi to both Sydney and Melbourne later this year, using its 256-seat, two-class Boeing 787 Dreamliner. News of the new service was welcomed by Australian authorities.

“Since 2008, visitor numbers from India to NSW have increased by over a third – with holidaymakers, international students and those visiting friends and families making Sydney and NSW their destination,” said NSW’s minister for tourism & major events, George Souris. “This new service to Sydney will provide a new way for visitors to plan and book their next visit to Sydney.”

Sydney Airport’s CEO Kerrie Mather added; “This is a great result for NSW and a great result for tourism. With more than 217,000 people of Indian decent living in Sydney alone, India is one of our largest unserved markets.”

The new route will see Air India fly a daily triangulated service from Delhi to Australia, operating to Melbourne via Sydney four days a week and to Sydney via Melbourne on the other three days. Services are expected to commence on 29 August.

1336 | September 06, 2013