In 2019,India was the fastest growing market to NSW,with 175,000 visitors spending an estimated $444 million. In July,India was the third-largest source of visitors to the state,with the NSW government expecting that number to surge over the coming months due to pent-up demand.
Treasurer Matt Kean said the service hopes to support more than 100 jobs and generate more than $19 million in delivering more than 44,000 inbound international seats to Sydney up to June 30,2023. Many Australian companies have operations in Bengaluru,and the new route cuts the current travel time between the two cities by three hours.
Tourism minister Ben Franklin said the grant was key to the state’s goal of making NSW the premier visitor economy of the Asia Pacific,“our airports are the gateway to our state,so supporting the return of airlines to them through the Aviation Attraction Fund is key to achieving our goal,” he said.
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The new route means Qantas is the only carrier offering direct services between Australia’s two largest cities and the south and north of India.
“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,” Qantas domestic and international chief Andrew David said.
In August,the Aviation Attraction Fund secured similar partnerships with Japan Airlines and Singapore Airlines in an effort to deliver more than 1000 jobs and boost the trade relationship between NSW,Japan and Singapore.