Qantas takes off on historic new route to India

British aviation authority restricts airspace during queen's funeral<br/>The first direct flight between Australia and southern India took off on Wednesday, under a new route supported by funding by the NSW government in an effort to boost visitation with the country’s fifth-biggest trading partner. The new Qantas route between Sydney and Bengaluru received funding from the state government’s $60m Aviation Attraction Fund. An A330 aircraft will take off from Sydney to Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport four times per week on a Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. In 2019, India was the fastest growing market to NSW, with 175,000 visitors spending an estimated $444m. In July, India was the third-largest source of visitors to the state, with the NSW government expecting that number to surge over the coming months due to pent-up demand. Treasurer Matt Kean said the service hopes to support more than 100 jobs and generate more than $19m in delivering more than 44,000 inbound international seats to Sydney up to June 30, 2023. Many Australian companies have operations in Bengaluru, and the new route cuts the current travel time between the two cities by three hours. Tourism minister Ben Franklin said the grant was key to the state’s goal of making NSW the premier visitor economy of the Asia Pacific, “our airports are the gateway to our state, so supporting the return of airlines to them through the Aviation Attraction Fund is key to achieving our goal,” he said.<br/>