Qantas Positive On Indian Front

Charmaine Fernz - Mumbai

With the re-launch of their India services in September, Qantas is all set to take India head on. On a recent visit, Rob Gurney, head of sales and distribution, Qantas Airways Limited, in an exclusive with Express Travel & Tourism spoke about the airlines’ future plan. “We would be connecting India thrice a week with a Boeing 747 aircraft and there are a lot of benefits to the non-stop connection especially to Sydney. And with the commencement of this service, our passengers would also have better connections to Gold Coast, Brisbane, Melbourne, Canberra, Tasmania as well as New Zealand.”

With India being such a potential country, why did Qantas shut shop? Well, says Gurney, post 9/11, the economic circumstances were not favourable to continue our services. However, we have received continued support from the Indian travel industry across the country. The other factors that worked toward this relaunch was a high market share, increase in the volumes of business despite being offline and an enthused and encouraging market support. Considering all these factors as well as our competitive advantage of having an excellent knowledge of the destination, we decided to re-enter and with a strategised approach.

Now having set out sights on India, what lies ahead? Explains Gurney, “We would certainly act as a catalyst to promote tourism to and from Australia and vice versa. To this effect, we would work closely with the Australian Tourist Commission and the Indian government, as there is tremendous potential in both countries. Besides, we would pick up a larger share of the market by operating non-stop as we have a very strong domestic network. On the domestic front in India, we are working with Jet Airways and Air Sahara to work out a standard fare. And, to conclude, we are looking at increasing our services in the Indian market but that is definitely in the long-term and keeping our sights focussed on other cities as well like Delhi, Chennai or even Bangalore.”