Air India revamps Australia flights, links with Air NZ

NEW DELHI – Air India has rescheduled its flights into Australia and entered an extensive code-share arrangement with Star Alliance partner Air New Zealand as it moves to strengthen its market position through the region.

Air India’s daily triangular service between Delhi, Sydney and Melbourne has been dropped in favour of four direct Delhi-Sydney-Delhi flights and three direct Delhi-Melbourne-Delhi flights weekly.

The code-share arrangement  with  Air New Zealand covers services between India and New Zealand and parts of Southeast Asia.

Air India will place its code on Air New Zealand services from Melbourne, Sydney, Hong Kong and Singapore, and Air New Zealand will place its code on Air India services to Delhi from Sydney, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Singapore.

In addition, Air New Zealand will gain access to six ports of call in India – Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore and Cochin – apart from Delhi (ATI).