Tata-owned Air India on Tuesday said that it will operate thrice a week between Mumbai and Melbourne starting December 15, becoming the only non-stop operator between Mumbai and Australia currently.

According to the airline, the new Mumbai-Melbourne services will add nearly 40,000 seats per year into the Australian state of Victoria, where the Indian community is estimated at over 200,000, constituting about 40 per cent of the total Indian diaspora in Australia.