Emirates Airline will not invest in Indian domestic passenger carriers

Emirates Airline has said that it will not invest in any of the Indian domestic passenger carriers and that it will grow its operational organically in India, report The Hindu.
Essa Sulaiman Ahmad, vice president, India and Nepal for Emirates said: “We at Emirates believe in growing our business organically. Adding that there are no plans to invest in any of the Indian passenger carriers by the Dubai-based airline.

Lufthansa A380 loses to Emirates at Mumbai again

Just what is going on at Mumbai airport? I ask because, yet again, Lufthansa appears to have lost out in its bid to launch A380 service to this major Indian city.

As we reported recently, Lufthansa was intending to launch A380 flights to Mumbai from the start of the winter timetable on October 26.

At the same time, Emirates would "downgrade" its existing A380 service to a more modest B777-300ER.

But in a change of tack, Mumbai appears to have reversed its decison. Emirates will now continue its daily A380 flight throughout the winter while Lufthansa will still operate its B747-400 on the route, reports the Times of India. When Business Traveller checked both airlines’ schedules we found the latter had been revised.

Emirates Airline keen to promote tourism in Gujarat

Ahmedabad: UAE based Emirates Airline's senior vice president Majid Al-Maula Sheikh paid a courtesy visit to chief minister Anandiben Patel here. During the meeting Sheikh showed keen interest in strengthening the bilateral relationship for mutual benefits in the fields of tourism, commerce, commodities and others.

The meeting was also attended by Gujarat's tourism and civil aviation minister Saurabhbhai Patel. In the meeting, Sheikh briefed Patel that the Emirates Airline is having flight-connectivity with over 145 destinations of the world over. Thus, his airline would like to ink a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Gujarat tourism to attract and bring more tourists to Gujarat from the United States, Europe, Middle East, Africa and other places of the world over.

MoU signed between MP, Emirates airline

Bhopal : On the first day of his 3-day Dubai visit, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan on Wednesday had exclusive meeting with Divisional Senior Vice-President of Emirates Group Adnan Kazim.
Chauhan also met Dubai Civil Aviation Authority’s President Shaikh Ahmad Bin Syed Al Makhtoom.

Emirates A380 says “Namaste Mumbai”

Emirates, which flies daily direct from Lusaka to Dubai and Harare, has commenced its first scheduled Airbus A380 service to India with a daily flight between Dubai and Mumbai. EK500 took off from Dubai International airport at 21:55 hours on 21st July, arriving at Chhatrapati Shivaji International airport in Mumbai at 02:30, covering the approximate 2,222kms at an average cruising speed of 822kms per hour.

The return flight EK501 took off from Terminal 2 in Mumbai at 04:30hrs and arrived back at Emirates Terminal 3 in Dubai, the airline’s home and hub for its specially designed A380 terminal - Concourse A, at 06.00 hours.

For Emirates, Kerala leads rest of India in flights

Thiruvananthapuram: With the latest bilaterals now in force, Emirates is operating 37 flights every week into Kerala, the highest among all states in the country, said a top airline official.

Essa Sulaiman Ahmad, Emirates vice-president for India and Nepal, said the last renewal of bilaterals between the two countries was in 2008. After the new agreement this year, Emirates is operating 37 flights a week to the three Kerala airports. In all, Emirates operates 185 flights every week for the entire country.

"This is the highest that we fly into any single state in India. The total number of weekly seats into India that came into force in 2008 was 54,200 and with the recent renewal of the bi-laterals, the number will go up by 11,000 seats during the next one year," Ahmad told IANS.

Emirates becomes 2nd airline to operate jumbo A-380 to India

Mumbai: Gulf carrier Emirates became the second airline to operate jumbo A380 aircraft to India after Singapore Airlines, with the commencement of its first daily flight to Mumbai from Dubai.

Emirates flight EK-500 took off from Dubai International airport at 21:55 hours (local time) yesterday and arrived at city’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International airport (CSIA) at 02:30 am (local time), a release said here today.

The return flight EK-501 took off from Terminal 2 of the CSIA at 04:30 am (local time) and arrived back at Emirates Terminal 3 in Dubai at 06.00 am (local time), it said.

Emirates Airlines to serve Indian regional dishes

Dubai: Those travelling to and from India on an Emirates flight can now enjoy regional Indian culinary offerings like 'sarson maach' and 'dhabe da ghost'.
The Dubai-based airline has introduced enhanced menus across 10 destinations in India that reflect regional tastes and customer preferences from across the country.
For example, customers on the Kolkata route can enjoy a sarson maach (mustard fish curry). Similarly, regional dishes such as turiya vatana muthia (ridge gourd and green peas dumpling) on flights to and from Ahmedabad, meen mulaku curry (fish in red gravy) on flights to Kerala, or dhabe da gosht (lamb meat cooked in pure ghee and flavoured with cardamoms and poppy seeds) on flights to Delhi, are some of the highlights.

Emirates chief asks why no fighter jet tracked MH370

Emirates chief Tim Clark has reportedly questioned why fighter jets did not intercept Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 when it veered widely off course, but said he believed the missing plane will be found.
Clark said that more information on the disappearance of the Boeing jet, which was carrying 239 people from Kuala to Beijing, was needed before the industry changes its aircraft tracking procedures.
The Emirates boss told The Australian Financial Review at an annual airlines conference in Doha that the plane would have been intercepted by military aircraft if it had flown off course over other countries.

Emirates to ask new Indian gov't for more landing rights

Emirates Airline will imminently ask the new Indian government to increase the carrier's seat capacity to the Asian nation, CEO Tim Clark has revealed.
UAE airlines are continuously fighting for more access to India, which provides about 900,000 workers to the Gulf country.
The previous Indian government had long restricted landing rights but it was replaced in May by new right wing Prime Minister Narenda Modi, who has a track record of economic reforms.
Clark told Arabian Business he would move swiftly to "again bang the drum" for Emirates to have greater flying rights.
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