Air India to increase flights to Australia

Air India will introduce three more flights on the Australia-India airroute next year, increasing the frequency to 10 flightsper week after receiving an overwhelming response.

"The response to Air India's non-stop Dreamliner between Delhi and Sydney-Melbourne has been overwhelming and we will be deploying the additional capacity on this route in the second quarter of 2017," Air India chairman and managing directorAshwani Lohani, said.

Currently, India's national carrier operates seven flights a week to Sydney and Melbourne, which will increase the frequency to 10 from next year.

The triangular air service between Sydney, Melbourne and Delhi was launched in 2013 but currently operates four weekly fligts using Boeing 787 Dreamliner fromNew Delhito Sydney and three flights weekly using Boeing 787 from Delhi to Melbourne.

According to official figures, last year 29 per cent ofvisitors on Australia-India route travelled on Singapore Airlines followed by 21 per cent on Malaysia Airlines while 12 per cent of travellers used Air India.

Australia, a leisure holiday destination, is favourite among Indian tourists for its Sydney Opera House, Great Barrier Reef, the vast Outback (interior desert wilderness) and unique animal species, including kangaroos.

The geographically vast country provides sightseers with aquatic, coastal, nature and wildlife experiences, among other attractions.