When Qantas launched its version of the Kangaroo Route to London in 1947, the Lockheed Constellation made seven stops. Two of those stops were on the sub-continent, transiting through Calcutta (Kolkata) in India and Karachi in Pakistan. Despite the large Indian diaspora in Australia, direct flights have, at times, been scarce, but now it seems Qantas has regained its appetite for flights between the two cricket-loving nations.

This morning, Qantas announced it was expanding its codeshare agreements with India's largest airline, IndiGo. The codeshares with IndiGo started in August last year when passengers on Qantas flights to Bengaluru and Delhi could make seamless connections to other popular destinations, such as major cities like Mumbai and Chennai or historic locations such as Pune and Goa.

More connectivity via IndiGo for QF passengers

Under the second phase of the agreement, Qantas passengers can now travel to an additional eight cities. This means there are 21 Indian destinations for Qantas travelers to connect to from Delhi and Bengaluru. More broadly, Qantas customers have access across IndiGo's domestic network, with more than 250 new flights now available for booking.

IndiGo Airbus A320
Photo: Phuong D. Nguyen | Shutterstock

Transitioning from an international to a domestic flight can sometimes be problematic, but Qantas and IndiGo seem to have thought that through to make it simple. Qantas customers traveling on IndiGo can carry the same baggage allowance as their flight from Australia and receive complimentary food and drinks onboard.

Qantas Frequent Flyers can earn and redeem points on connecting IndiGo flights operated with a QF code. IndiGo will also recognize the tiered benefits offered to Qantas Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Platinum One frequent flyers, including priority check-in and priority baggage, where applicable.

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Qantas chief customer officer Markus Svensson said that the new routes to India have proven incredibly popular with customers. Svensson added that the codeshare partnership with IndiGo had improved the way Qantas customers travel between Australia and India, and the additional destinations will give them even more options.

"The new codeshare flights will allow our customers to enjoy more connections across India from our Delhi and Bengaluru gateways and have their luggage checked straight through to their final destination.

"Our frequent flyers in particular benefit from booking these flights, with more opportunities to earn points and status credits."

Qantas operates eight return flights a week to get customers from Australia to India and connected to IndiGo flights. From Melbourne International (MEL), it is flying four return flights weekly to Delhi Indira Gandhi International (DEL), and from Sydney Kingsford Smith (SYD) has four returns weekly to Bengaluru Kempegowda International (BLR).

A recent rotation of the Sydney-Bengaluru flight was on Wednesday when flight QF67 departed SYD at 10:06 and landed in BLR at 15:39, with a flying time of 11:03 hours. According to Flightradar24.com, the 12-year-old Airbus A330-202, registration VH-EBO and MSN 1169, departed Bengaluru at 18:01 and landed in Sydney at 10:22 the following day.

The new IndiGo codeshare destinations announced by Qantas today are:

  • Guwahati
  • Indore
  • Chandigarh
  • Mangalore
  • Jaipur
  • Nagpur
  • Thiruvananthapuram
  • Visakhapatnam

The destinations that were already in place are:

  • Ahmedabad
  • Amritsar
  • Bengaluru
  • Delhi
  • Goa
  • Mumbai
  • Kochi
  • Kolkata
  • Hyderabad
  • Lucknow
  • Patna
  • Pune

Do codeshare destinations influence your choice of airline? Please let us know in the comments.

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    Qantas
    IATA/ICAO Code:
    QF/QFA
    Airline Type:
    Full Service Carrier
    Hub(s):
    Brisbane Airport, Melbourne Airport, Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport
    Year Founded:
    1920
    Alliance:
    oneworld
    CEO:
    Alan Joyce
    Country:
    Australia