High visa costs help kibosh Air India flights to WSI

By Andrew Curran.

The difficulties of obtaining visas and the high costs involved have emerged as major factors behind Indian carriers being unwilling to start or expand their flights to Australia, regardless of the imminent opening of Western Sydney Airport (WSI) and a grab bag of incentives on offer for airlines to do so.

A New South Wales Government trade delegation to India last week, which specifically lobbied Air India to start flights from Western Sydney Airport, met with a polite but lukewarm response.

The costs and hoops involved in obtaining a simple visa, along with the airline’s own internal challenges, were cited as reasons why Air India has no immediate plans to grow its Australian flights beyond its daily Delhi (DEL) – Sydney (SYD) and up to twice-daily Delhi – Melbourne (MEL) round-trips.

Visa costs a significant brake on India - Australia passenger traffic

The recently increased and non-refundable base government application fee for an Australian Visitor Visa is AUD250 (USD180), plus any agency and medical fees. The visa can take weeks to process. More complex visas cost more and take longer to process.

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns went on to call for a common-sense approach to visas. Their processing and issuance are the responsibility of the Australian Federal Government, rather than individual State Governments.

But Air India and other tourism officials told Minns and his delegation that demand for travel to Australia from India was unlikely to improve until the visa issue was addressed, rendering calls for further flights redundant.

While the Australian Federal Government and New South Wales Government have specific funding programs in place to attract airlines, the potential subsidies and incentives were not enough to overcome to obstacles.

Fiji Airways confirms plans to start WSI flights

However, two other airlines have adopted a more bullish stance. Fiji Airways officially announced the start of thrice-weekly B737-8-operated flights between Nadi (NAN) and Western Sydney Airport (WSI) on March 19, 2027. Aero South Pacific flagged the flights in early August in its Route Briefs.

Unlike for Air India, Australia is the largest source market of Fiji Airways’ passengers. The bulk of its passengers, particularly on its many Australia – Fiji routes, can be Australians, who do not require a visa to re-enter Australia. The airline is targeting two large market segments – Australians who travel to Fiji for their holidays and the substantial Fijian and South Pacific Islander diaspora living in Australia, including a large number living in the Western Sydney region.

Egyptair to fly to Sydney Airport from 2027

The second airline announcing plans to start flights to Sydney is Egyptair, which inked an agreement with Sydney’s legacy airport at the El Alamein Air Show to start services between Cairo (CAI) and Sydney via Singapore (SIN) in 2027.

Specific details about the exact start date, operating aircraft type and schedules will be announced closer to launch. Once operating, Egyptair will be the only African airline flying to Australia on a scheduled basis.

“Egypt is the largest unserved African market for Australian travellers, and a Sydney service by EgyptAir is a big step forward in improving connectivity between Australia and Egypt,” said Sydney Airport CEO Scott Charlton. “We look forward to working with EgyptAir as it progresses its plans for Sydney.”

Egyptair CEO Captain Ahmed Adel said its future Sydney flights were an important step in growing Egyptair’s international network. While neither airline mentioned government incentives, it is rare for any airline to launch a new route to or within Australia without accessing the program.

Notably, Egyptair did not choose Western Sydney Airport to launch its Australian operations. That airport will start handling passenger flights on October 25, with Jetstar flights starting on the same day. Qantas, VietJet Air, Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand and now Fiji Airways have all also announced the start of flights from the greenfields airport.

Photo:  Air India.
Contact the writer: andrew@aerosouthpacific.com