AGGRESSIVE EMIRATES EYES BIGGER PIE OF INDIAN SKIES
New Delhi,India : Emirates wants more of the Indian skies. It is looking at a 52 percent increase in the number of seats on Indian flights, from 54,200 now to 80,000 eventually.
It is already the largest international airline carrying Indians overseas and has been roundly criticised several times in the past for taking away Indian passengers which would have otherwise been flying an Indian airline.
So why does Emirates want more traffic from India, especially when the Indian government has decided against signing fresh air bilateral rights with Gulf countries?
The logic is simple. India is one of the few aviation markets in the world which is underserved and has a vast growth potential in terms of air traffic. Besides, as pointed out by Will Lofberg, Emirates’ Senior Manager (Public Environment Affairs), 11 percent of Emirates’ total global network capacity is deployed in India and “with no increase in entitlements since 2008 and high seat factors (84%), carriage growth has been marginal in 2011-12.”
The NCAER study estimates a combined economic benefit of $106 million if Emirates is allowed flights to the four new airports mentioned earlier. AFP
Lofberg did not confirm whether Emirates has indeed sought an increase in per week seat entitlements to 80,000 but the carrier has funded a study by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) which says as much.
04/09/2012 : Sindhu Bhattacharya / FirstPost Business.
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