Post Covid sees growth in direct flights from India to Australia
Reductions in flights in legacy markets like Japan and China have seen a reallocation of flights to new markets like India
The reductions in flights in legacy markets like Japan and China have seen a reallocation of flights to new markets like India, when comparing inbound passenger numbers on direct flights.
Additional direct flights from India to Sydney and Melbourne, by Qantas during the pandemic, has been sustained post opening of borders. Travellers from India to Australia now have a great choice of direct flights, instead of flying via Singapore, Malaysia or Hong Kong
On the other hand, there has been a reduction in flights to China and Japan. Even the reopening of Japanese borders in October has not seen flights between Japan and Australia go back to pre - Covid levels. Actually, across many markets, the recovery is seeing traffic at lower levels than in 2019
The following table shows the top 9 countries providing direct flights to Australia, with inbound passengers for Nov 2019 vs Nov 2022 shown in comparison.
| Country | 2019 | 2022 | Increase |
| New Zealand | 321544 | 235120 | -27% |
| Singapore | 239069 | 224887 | -6% |
| China | 142942 | 5569 | -96% |
| United Arab Emirates | 134750 | 107488 | -20% |
| USA | 133830 | 76453 | -43% |
| Indonesia | 130616 | 98516 | -25% |
| Hong Kong (SAR) | 103264 | 23418 | -77% |
| Malaysia | 103014 | 62094 | -40% |
| Japan | 69213 | 27877 | -60% |
This is discussed further in my exclusive interview with the International Airports Review.
Source - Data is sourced from BITRE. https://bit.ly/3gEpNck