Queensland is making a concerted pitch to open up its biggest untapped market by wooing Air India to introduce routes to the Sunshine State.
“Clearly there’s a huge amount of opportunity to grow, not just in terms of frequency, but certainly in respect of city coverage.” “It’s exactly the same geography as the Gulf, Middle East and South-East Asia, so we can participate in all those central networks,” he said.“I think the perception is that Indian infrastructure is not where it should be, and anyone who has visited India recently would probably realise that’s no longer the case.”
“India remains a key market that we are working to grow and would love to attract direct aviation access from in the future,” Healy said. “Travellers from India now represent the sixth-largest inbound market for Brisbane, with 126,000 passengers arriving at in the past year – a 13 per cent increase from the previous year.
“We deal in a really collaborative way with Brisbane Airport, we really value the relationship. They’re easy to work with and it sets the platform, the agenda for us, to be confident to grow in this part of the world.”Data released on Thursday by Flight Centre corporate bookings division FCM Travel showed inbound international bookings to Brisbane were up 51 per cent since 2023, with outbound bookings up 38 per cent.