Cheap business class fares from India to Australia on Malaysia Airlines

Last night, I was researching some fares and award options from India to Australia for a friend. I even debated buying points from airline miles sales, which could then be used for partner awards. And I was trying to figure out how much one might save, particularly on premium cabin tickets.

I nearly wound up my research after reviewing options with Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines and the other biggies, when I noticed something strange with the prices on Malaysia Airlines. I initially dismissed it as a high economy class fare, but I decided to investigate further.


You may recall MH's recent promotion for buy-one-get-one-free offer in business class within Asia and Australia. The effective per-person prices from India were in the region, or upwards, of Rs 130,000. However, it seems like MH is making available some really exceptional value fares in business class from India to Australia. 

I was able to find round trip fares from Bangalore to Melbourne, for less than Rs 97,000 (that's less than US$1,500), which is fantastic.


A quick comparison check on Matrix ITA also showed me prices for other airlines.


The nearest competitor is priced about 28% higher than MH's fare, and that competitor is China Southern, offering Delhi-Guangzhou-Sydney (return via Melbourne). Note that the dates are slightly different here.


Effectively, you can get fares from India to Australia for around Rs 105,000 per person. Interestingly, these fares seem to be available through the year.


MH seems to have a business promo fare category under which these fares are being offered. Here's a screenshot for dates in June, on the MAA-MEL route.


MH charges fees and taxes of around Rs 13,000 (mainly India service tax of around Rs 7,200 and Australia passenger movement charges of Rs 2,700).

You can get even lower fares when you book your travel out of that grand daddy of low fare bookings, Colombo. CMB-MEL fares in business class are in the region of LKR 193,000, or about Rs 89,000. If you've got spare UL, JP or AI miles, you could hop over from your origin point in India to CMB, and make the jaunt to Australia a little cheaper in cash terms.


Conclusion

MH is trying to work its way back to a positive opinion among travelers (after the MH370 and MH17 episodes), and also a positive P&L account (at least they made a start, reporting their first monthly profit in years). I'm not sure if such low fares as the ones above, will blacken their bottomline in the way they expect it to!

Having said that, these prices, mostly in the region of Rs 100,000 (sub US$1,500), are fantastic prices to Australia. You can even price your tickets to arrive at MEL and return from SYD or vice versa. Not a bad time to head to Australia, looking at how bad the Indian summer is getting to be this year!

Readers: Are these fares on MH low enough to entice you to book with them? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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