Booking flights to India this summer? Air India’s Australia fuel surcharge is now US$210 each way

An Air India ticket between Australia and India now carries a fuel surcharge of US$210 each way. Doubled for a return, that is US$420. It applies to bookings made from 11am India time on Friday 9 October, which was 4.30pm in Sydney and Melbourne, so it is built into the fares of the airline’s flights to India from Australia booked since then, including those for December and January.

Other things have moved too. Air India’s Delhi to Melbourne route was scheduled to return to daily flights from 1 September, on a larger aircraft with a First Class cabin. Western Sydney International opens to passengers on Sunday 25 October, and its first link to Asia, a Singapore Airlines flight to Changi, begins in late November. No Indian airline is on the federal government’s list of carriers for the new airport. And since Thursday 15 October, Air India and Singapore Airlines have been able to sell each other’s eligible flights between India and Singapore without adding one of their own.

From US$150 to US$210 since March

Air India’s release of 8 October gives one figure per region. Australia’s is US$210 one way, close to North America at US$215 and above Europe, including the United Kingdom, at US$135. The airline put the revision down to the “continued increase in Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) prices” and said it would review its surcharges periodically.

The release does not say what the new figure replaced. Earlier statements fill in part of the history. In early March the charge on Australian routes was US$150. It rose to US$200 for bookings from 18 March, and an April revision set it at US$280 per passenger, per sector. In July the Indian news agency ANI reported, citing unnamed sources, that the Australian figure had been cut to US$200. Measured against early March, the October figure is US$60 higher.

The March and April rounds exempted bookings already made. Both statements said existing tickets would not attract a new surcharge “unless customers seek date or itinerary changes that require a recalculation of the fare”. The October release does not say how it treats tickets issued before 9 October.

Fewer flights to India in winter, a bigger plane for Melbourne

The surcharge follows a winter of reduced flying. In May, Air India cut Delhi to Melbourne and Delhi to Sydney from seven flights a week to four for June to August. It cited continued airspace restrictions over certain regions and “record high jet fuel prices for international operations”, which it said significantly affected the commercial viability of some planned services.

Melbourne then got a bigger aircraft. From Wednesday 1 July, Air India began flying a Boeing 777-300ER on the route, with eight First Class suites, 40 flat beds in Business and 280 Economy seats. The Boeing 787-8 it replaced had 18 Business and 241 Economy seats, so each 777 flight has 69 more seats, and First Class is new to the route. In June the airline said the route was scheduled to return to seven flights a week from Tuesday 1 September, and its booking page for Melbourne now lists seven weekly flights from Delhi.

For Sydney, the June release gave no frequency; it noted that Air India also flies non-stop between Delhi and Sydney. The airline’s Sydney booking page lists seven weekly flights from Delhi, adding that frequency may vary with seasonal schedules.

Five minutes to midnight in western Sydney

Western Sydney International opens to passengers on Sunday 25 October, when a Jetstar flight leaves for the Gold Coast at 11am. Air New Zealand begins flying to Auckland the next day. Singapore Airlines starts a daily service to Changi on Monday 23 November, using an Airbus A350-900 with 40 Business and 263 Economy seats.

The flight leaves late. Until 27 March 2027, SQ202 is scheduled to depart western Sydney at 11.55pm and land in Singapore at 5.05am the next day. Dai Haoyu, the airline’s senior vice president of marketing planning, said western Sydney’s late-night departure capacity would enable connections through Changi to “more than 130 global destinations served by the SIA Group”. The announcement does not mention India.

Two more international carriers are on the federal government’s list: Vietjet, which begins a twice-weekly Ho Chi Minh City service on Saturday 9 January 2027, and Fiji Airways, which starts flying to Nadi on Friday 19 March 2027. None of the airlines on it is Indian.

Changi, and the eight Indian cities beyond it

Changi is also where the partnership change applies. Until last week, an eligible codeshare flight operated by Air India and booked through Singapore Airlines had to be combined with a flight Singapore Airlines operated, and the same applied the other way round. Since Thursday 15 October, customers can book eligible flights between India and Singapore run by either airline “on a standalone basis” through the other carrier’s website, app or appointed travel agencies. The change covers 126 weekly flights between Singapore and eight Indian cities: Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata and Mumbai.

The two announcements stand apart. The partnership release mentions Australia once, in a list of regions the airlines’ hubs reach, and Singapore Airlines’ western Sydney release does not mention Air India.

For a December trip, the surcharge is the change that shows up on every new Air India booking between Australia and India, and the airline says it will keep reviewing it. The map has moved more slowly. Melbourne’s flight to Delhi was scheduled to go daily again from September, on a bigger plane. Western Sydney opens without an Indian airline, and its first flight to Asia, from late November, leaves at five minutes to midnight for Singapore.