India's Ministry of Civil Aviation has held discussions with Western Australia's tourism minister that could lead to Air India commencing nonstop flights between India and Perth.
State minister of civil aviation Jayant Sinha, WA tourism minister Paul Papalia and Air India chairman and managing director Pradeep Kharola held a meeting on 24 October to discuss the potential new nonstop route.
"Air India has agreed to explore the business case for the route," the ministry states.
Under the India-Australia air services agreement, there are no restrictions on carriers flying between any point in Australia and Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
The ministry says that Indian with visitor numbers to Western Australia increased by 38% between 2015 and 2017, despite there being no nonstop flights between India and Perth. The state government has also recently committed to increased tourism marketing in India.
FlightGlobal schedules data shows that Air India is the only nonstop operator between India and Australia. It flies from to Sydney and Melbourne using Boeing 787s.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
