Qantas has inaugurated its long-awaited nonstop service from Sydney to the southern Indian city of Bengaluru. It took off on September 14th and is en route to India as this article is written. Driven by good passenger numbers, its new IndiGo codeshare, and fast-growing India-Australia traffic, Bengaluru joins Delhi in seeing Qantas metal.

Qantas begins Bengaluru

At 10:11 on September 14th, Qantas flight QF67 departed Sydney bound for Bengaluru. With a distance of 5,810 miles (9,350km), the first flight is expected to be around 11h 30m, according to Flightradar24.

The A330-200 is scheduled to operate all flights, with the honor of the inaugural going to 11.8-year-old VH-EBP. Delivered in December 2010, it has 251 seats: 27 fully flat beds in business and 224 in economy seats.

Qantas will serve Bengaluru year-round on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. In the current week, the route's schedule is as follows, with all times local:

  • Sydney to Bengaluru: QF67, 09:30-16:55 (block time of 11h 55m)
  • Bengaluru to Sydney: QF68, 18:35-10:20+1 (11h 15m)
Qantas Sydney to Bengaluru
When writing, 'Qantas Six Seven' is 6h 37m into its flight to Bengaluru. It has 4h 50m left. Image: Flightradar24.

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Why Bengaluru?

In 2019, the most recent year unaffected by coronavirus, booking data shows that Sydney-Bengaluru saw 54,000 roundtrip point-to-point (P2P) passengers. Not surprisingly, the vast majority flew via Singapore or Kuala Lumpur. As P2P traffic is higher-yielding and lower cost than connecting passengers, that volume is an excellent starting point.

It's helped by a healthy average one-way fare of US$514 (excluding taxes and any fuel surcharge), reflecting good premium demand. Given Bengaluru is closer to Sydney than Mumbai ($453) and Delhi ($371), its average is disproportionately better. Indeed, while Bengaluru was (and remains) a smaller market, Bengaluru's fare per mile was 23% higher than Mumbai and 54% more than Delhi. It's a strong foundation.

Qantas' timings are such that passengers can easily connect passengers from Bengaluru to/from multiple other Australian cities, notable Melbourne (57,000; $472) and Brisbane (14,000; $482). There's also New Zealand, with Auckland connectable in less than two hours in both directions (14,000; $526).

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Then there's its codeshare

Significantly, Sydney-Bengaluru will enable Qantas to access a large amount of India thanks to its IndiGo codeshare. A codeshare means an airline can market a flight as its own without operating it itself. Passengers will have roughly the same benefits as if flying Qantas itself.

The pair initially codeshare on 11 routes from Bengaluru (plus three from Delhi), involving all major Indian cities. Combined, it's a theoretical opportunity of over half a million passengers, although Qantas will, of course, attract only a fraction of this.

Up to 2x daily India flights

In addition to 4x weekly Sydney-Bengaluru, Qantas currently operates Melbourne-Delhi. It's also served 4x weekly (Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays) and uses A330-200s. It means that Qantas has 2x daily India flights on Saturdays.

Where else would you like Qantas to fly in Asia? Let us know in the comments.