Qantas exec says the A321XLR is ideal for India flights
By Andrew Curran.
Qantas has “significant medium to long-term aspirations for India,” according to the airline’s international CEO, Cam Wallace. This is despite its flights to the subcontinent having a mixed track record.
Wallace says that’s partly down to the airline not having the right-sized and correctly configured aircraft for the Australia – India country pair. But he suggests the metrics will shift with the arrival of A321-200XLRs.
Speaking at the FACTS 2025 conference in Sydney this week, Wallace said the XLRs were “part of the solution” to making flights between Australia and India work.
India proves a tough market for Qantas
The subcontinent has proved a hard nut for Qantas to crack. It quit the market entirely in 2012 when it axed flights to Mumbai (BOM). However, the airline ventured back after the Covid-19 pandemic, restarting a now-terminated Sydney (SYD) – Delhi (DEL) service.
Wallace says the more recent Sydney – Bengaluru (BLR) flights have proved more successful.
“Bengaluru has performed very well for us as a year-round service, so we switch from five (weekly flights) sometimes up to daily on that market,” he said.
Meanwhile, earlier this year, Qantas briefly suspended its since-resumed Melbourne (MEL) – Delhi (DEL) services.
Despite these swings and roundabouts, Qantas sees potential in India.
“We think it's important to be in that market (India),” said Wallace. “As we go through fleet renewal, you should expect us to deploy more productive capital to that market.”
A321XLR offers Qantas an opportunity in India
Speaking to Aero South Pacific on the sidelines of the event, Wallace confirmed this was a reference to the A321XLR. The Qantas Group recently received the first two of forty-eight XLRs on order. Wallace says the type provides a wide-body range but offers narrow-body economics.
“It allows us to open up thinner markets and provides us a platform to make markets viable that historically weren’t.”
Wallace says Qantas remains committed to developing Perth (PER) as its west coast international hub and says that flights from that city to Indian cities would be a good fit for the A321XLR.
“We see Perth growing quite materially over the next five to ten years,” he said. “We think Perth – India is a market that we’ll definitely serve, over time.”
But Wallace added that the A321XLR and the Perth hub were just two cogs in solving the challenges of making flights to India work. He notes that while Australia rates third on a typical Indian’s wish list of places to travel to, when it comes to bookings, the country slides to tenth place. According to Wallace, Qantas also needs to develop deeper partnerships in India and “to do more work in the market.”
New aircraft offer Qantas growth opportunities
As expected from the boss of international flying at Qantas, Wallace is bullish on the broader opportunities the A321XLRs and the incoming A350-1000ULRs will offer the airline. As they arrive, aside from the planes deploying onto new routes, they will also free up existing A330s and B787s, allowing those older aircraft to venture elsewhere.
“You will see Qantas growing as the new fleet comes in,” he said. “For us… we think there are more markets for us to dive into. There are a lot of city pairs that we could develop over the next decade or so.”
Photos: Qantas, FACTS 2025.