Tourism Minister Reece Whitby on mission to make seven-year direct flight dream a reality for Perth

A non-stop flight between Perth and India could be the key to unlock more trade and investment from the world’s most populous country, according to Tourism Minister Reece Whitby. Ahead of jetting off to the subcontinent on a tourism envoy with the hopes of realising a long-held ambition to establish a direct flight to the subcontinent, Mr Whitby said opportunities for WA from India were too great to ignore. During the visit, the Minister and his delegation of Tourism WA and Perth Airport representatives will meet with airlines Air India and IndiGo, as well as flight booking company MakeMyTrip, in efforts to get closer to making that direct flight to Perth a reality. The Government and tourism authorities believe unlocking greater tourism spending from India’s growing middle class is a key opportunity. Despite being WA’s eighth-largest tourism market by visitors in the year to June, India was only the 14th biggest when it came to amount spent here. According to Tourism WA, 38,000 Indian tourists visited the State over the period and spent $75 million. But nationally, India is the fifth largest tourism market in both visitors and spend — meaning WA has substantial potential. Mr Whitby said a direct route represented a substantial economic opportunity for the State. “A direct route would be a game-changer for tourism but also unlock future opportunities for trade, investment and arts between WA and India, further strengthening our economy,” he said. “We have made no secret of our desire to target the booming Indian market and ensuring visitors can access a seamless, single flight is a significant part of our plan. “Perth’s Indian diaspora, which will mark their most important cultural celebration this weekend, is fuelling the desire for travel to Western Australia, and we’re doing everything we can to make it easy.” The ambition of a non-stop flight to the world’s most populous country has been around since Labor first formed Government. In 2018, then-Tourism Minister Paul Papalia said he was targeting India as the next hub for a direct flight. “We’re lagging sadly in our international student market, the biggest source of international students for Western Australia is India, there’s a great opportunity there,” he told media at the time. Last year, Deputy Treasurer and former Tourism Minister Rita Saffioti said offers had been put on the table to two major airlines but work was still underway to get a deal across the line. “We’re doing all we can, and I don’t believe it’s too far away, but it’s about just making sure the airlines get the aircraft,” she said. Mr Whitby’s mission comes amid ongoing works at Perth Airport, largely driven by Qantas, which has plans of making it a major western hub. This in turn has opened up more capacity for international flights. In 2018, Qantas launched its Perth-London direct service with non-stop flights to Tokyo, Paris and Rome since.