Highlights
- Air India has announced flights between Sydney and Delhi
- These flights will operate between October 7-16
- India has banned international flights till October 31, 2020
(The story has been updated as per recent developments)
Air India adds four more flights to and fro to Australia from India:
Four more flights have been added to Vande Bharat Mission's October schedule for Australia.
Flights from Delhi to Sydney have been scheduled for October 17 and 21 and return flights from Sydney to Delhi are scheduled for October 19 and 23, according to the by Air India.
India to Australia:
17-Oct-20 AI 0302 DELHI 13:55 SYDNEY 08:20 (18-Oct-20)
21-Oct-20 AI 1302 DELHI 13:55 SYDNEY 08:20 (22-Oct-20)
Australia to India:
19-Oct-20 AI 1301 SYDNEY 10:15 DELHI 18:05 (19-Oct-20)
23-Oct-20 AI 0301 SYDNEY 10:15 DELHI 18:05 (23-Oct-20)
The additional flights' announcement comes after more quarantine places in Sydney were freed up following Australia's trans-Tasman travel bubble deal with New Zealand which allows New Zealanders to travel to Australia without undergoing quarantine.
EARLIER:
The scheduled October 3 flight from Delhi to Sydney and October 5 flight from Sydney to Delhi have been cancelled, according to the latest amended by Air India.
The tickets for remaining flights are yet to go on sale.
": departing New Delhi on 3 October, as per the previous schedule, has been cancelled," the Australian High Commissioner to India, Mr Barry O’Farrell tweeted.
Cancelled flights:
03-Oct-20 AI 0302 DELHI 13:55 to SYDNEY 08:20 (04-Oct-20)
05-Oct-20 AI 1301 SYDNEY 10:15 to DELHI 18:05 (05-Oct-20)
These special evacuation flights will operate between October 7 and 16, Air India has announced.
India to Australia:
07-Oct-20 AI 1302 DELHI 13:55 to SYDNEY 08:20 (08-Oct-20)
10-Oct-20 AI 0302 DELHI 13:55 to SYDNEY 08:20 (11-Oct-20)
14-Oct-20 AI 1302 DELHI 13:55 to SYDNEY 08:20 (15-Oct-20)
Australia to India:
09-Oct-20 AI 0301 SYDNEY 10:15 to DELHI 18:05 (09-Oct-20)
12-Oct-20 AI 1301 SYDNEY 10:15 to DELHI 18:05 (12-Oct-20)
16-Oct-20 AI 0301 SYDNEY 10:15 to DELHI 18:05 (16-Oct-20)
Many Australians and permanent residents stuck in India hope there will be an increase in the number of seats available following an increase in the cap of international arrivals in Australia.
From September 27, Australia increased the cap on the number of international arrivals from 4000 to 6000 per week.
“I have been calling the Air India continuously since yesterday. I hope there are enough flight seats," Mr Pradeep Singh, who is stuck in Ambala in northern India, told SBS Hindi.
Pradeep Singh is stuck in India since seven months. Source: Pradeep Singh
"I have been constantly checking their website for bookings to open. When I called them on Wednesday morning, they said it will open by 11 am, then they said by 8 pm, then they said, by midnight. But booking still isn't available," he says.
Mr Singh who travelled to India to get married earlier this year is desperate to return to Australia and resume work.
"My employer had to find someone else because I was out of the country. I hope I get my job back. But for that, I have to return," he said.
Since its launch, the Vande Bharat Mission has helped more than 1.9 million Indians stuck overseas to return home.
India has extended its ban on international flights till October 31, 2020.
People arriving in Australia must stay in a hotel quarantine at their own expense for 14 days.
