The Gulf based carrier is hoping that discussions between India and Dubai governments for increasing seats on the popular Dubai-India route by way of a bilateral agreement will commence very soon, there has been no seat increase between Dubai and India in the last five years.
Emirates is the flagship carrier of Dubai and is currently having flights from Dubai to nine destinations in India- Ahemadabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Thiruvanthapuram. The gulf based airline, Emirates also entered into a preliminary pact for a code share agreement with India’s low cost carrier SpiceJet in April this year.
‘Bilateral rights’ is an agreement between two countries that allows carriers of both the countries to operate flights with a fixed number of seats, once the seat number is fixed the airlines of both the countries must adhere to the agreement.
Emirates Airline’s President, Tim Clark says “There has been no seat increase between Dubai and India since last 5 years…Dubai-India is one of the most profitable routes.”
The popular Dubai-India route is dominated by airlines of both the countries, Emirates and FlyDubai are two carriers from Dubai operating flights to India while Air India, Air India Express, SpiceJet and Indigo are Indian carriers which have flight services from India to Dubai.
The Indian carriers have a concern that Gulf based carriers are taking away overseas traffic from them but Tim Clark President of Emirates says “What traffic are we taking away when they are flying full? That is strange logic.”He further adds “The biggest beneficiaries of the increased capacity (foreign flying rights) have been the Indian carriers. Now what is stopping them from saying India could have some more. I don’t know. It doesn’t make any sense to me. Lot of things do not make sense there and that is where we are.”
Sunday’s conference organized by International Air Transport Association (IATA) has boosted confidence in the Gulf based airline and it positively hopes that the bilateral agreement discussions will soon take place between the governments of Dubai and India for an increase in the number of seats on the Dubai-India route.
It may be highlighted that in April this year Emirates has entered into a pact for a code-share agreement with India’s Spice Jet that would open up new routes and destinations for passengers wishing to fly between India and destinations across Africa, Europe, America, Middle East and Europe. The code-share agreement upon approval from the government will also enable Emirates to take advantage of SpiceJet’s strong domestic presence in six Indian cities- Amritsar, Jaipur, Mangalore, Pune, Madurai and Calicut.
