Qantas continues Indian expansion with Sydney-Bengaluru flights
The new connection closely follows the launch of a strategic partnership with domestic carrier IndiGo.
By Chris Ashton, September 14 2022
Qantas’ global reach continues to grow, with its latest non-stop route from Sydney to Bengaluru – the first direct link between Australia and southern India – taking off from today.
Effectively slotting in place of the seasonal Sydney-Delhi service, which finished its debut run at the end of March, QF67 departs four times a week (Saturday, Sunday, Wednesday and Friday) on the Airbus A330 and shaves three hours off the current fastest time between the cities.
It’s just one of several new international offerings for the Red Roo, with the hotly-anticipated Sydney to Seoul firing up from December, and Sydney-Auckland-New York joining in June 2023.
The inaugural flight received a colourful send-off from Sydney.
To celebrate the route, Qantas has added Indian-inspired items to its inflight menu on the service, including lamb chettinad in business class, and paneer makhani, cumin seed pilaf, green peas and beans masala in economy.
Qantas Domestic and International CEO Andrew David describes the new Bengaluru connection as a significant boost for both tourism and economic relations between Australia and India, with the 13-million strong city (formerly known as Bangalore) often described as the ‘Silicon Valley of India’.
Paneer makhani with cumin seed pilaf, green peas and beans masala, served in economy.
“The addition of Bengaluru to our route map deepens our ties with India and follows the launch of direct services from Australia to Delhi last year which have also proven popular,” says David.
Although big news in itself, the 12-hour trip also unlocks a multitude of domestic destinations across the country, with the first phase of Qantas’ new codeshare partnership with IndiGo, India’s largest domestic carrier, recently taking to the sky.
There are currently 11 cities available on IndiGo from Bengaluru, including Mumbai, Goa, Kolkata and Chennai, with more rolling out in the coming months. Prior to launch, Qantas said the partnership would give travellers “improved one-stop access to more than 50 Indian cities.”
Qantas Frequent Flyers can earn and redeem points on connecting IndiGo flights which carry a QF code, while IndiGo will recognise Qantas Frequent Flyer benefits for Silver, Gold, Platinum and Platinum One members including priority check-in, additional baggage allowance and priority baggage.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
24 Apr 2013
Total posts 57
At last, Qantas is getting into the southern subcontinent. Have been waiting my whole life for this flight. Great to see local fare like on the Rome route. IndiGo is a solid local partner, since the sad demise of Jet Airways.
15 Mar 2018
Total posts 93
Will be a lot easier than the old SYD- HK- BLR or SYD - SIN - BLR with QF and 9W, but I loved my 9W flights. The crew were always amazing. The old Jet Airways connections were always much nicer the IndiGo flights, so it will be interesting to see how it works.
Unless IndiGo changes its policies, it does not offer business-class for its customers. Their very cramped Economy loading makes an IndiGo connection after the long SYD to BLR flight not something I'd do. So, unless I'm just flying to BLR, it looks like a flight to somewhere else and then on to a connection in India is the answer.
Currently my preferences are Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines or Emirates, depending on the city I am going too. Thes three seem to cover most of the tech cities. I'll try QF on the SYD - BLR and see how well they do it, but currently I'm finding QF business class to be constantly disappointing.
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