Emirates enhancing their Indian presence

To make Delhi double daily from July 1, 2008
By Charmaine Fernz | Dubai

http://www.travelbizmonitor.com

Emirates is going all out in their expansion plans for India. Apart from announcing the launch of their six-weekly non-stop services to Kozhikode, starting July 1, 2008, the airline will also be ramping up their Delhi services. Talking to TravelBiz Monitor, Salem Obaidalla, Sr. Vice President – Commercial Operations – West Asia and Indian Ocean, Emirates mentioned, “India is a growing market for us. Considering the growth, we will be increasing our Delhi connections to 10 flights a week thereby taking the service to a double daily from July 1, 2008. We will also consider increasing frequency to Mumbai by four additional flights.”

Kozhikode will be the third city in Kerala to be served with non-stop connections by Emirates from Dubai, after the airline introduced services to Kochi in 2002 and Thiruvananthapuram in 2006. The airline will initially operate its Boeing 777-200 and Airbus A330-200 aircraft, offering over 4,000 business and economy class seats and close to 200 tonnes of cargo capacity per week in both directions.

Elaborating on the airline’s plans for India, Obaidalla added, “We will launch the chauffeur drive service for our First and Business Class passengers in Mumbai by end of the month or in June. On the global routes, we will be starting the Dubai - Los Angeles flight on September 1, 2008 followed by Cape Town. We will also be commencing our San Francisco services from Dubai by December 1, 2008 and another destination in China by July, this year.”


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