NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Emirates,
the flagship carrier of Dubai, appears to be playing the role of India's
national carrier as domestic players grapple with various crises.
The airline, which operates 185 flights per week, more than any other foreign carrier, has garnered a 20% share of the total outbound traffic over the past year, according to industry sources, edging out competitors in usurping the void created by the curtailed overseas operations of Air India, the actual national carrier, and debt-laden Kingfisher Airlines.
Emirates is well ahead of peers such as Singapore Airlines (86 flights), British Airways (48) and German carrier Lufthansa, all gateway carriers.
A gateway carrier picks up traffic from other countries and routes it through their hub, which is Dubai in case of Emirates. Dubai is a major destination in its own right and is ideally positioned for Indians wanting to catch flights to other parts of the world.
An industry official expressed concern at what he describes as Emirates' ability "to get what they want" from the Indian government.
"Emirates has always enjoyed government confidence better than other carriers. They have always been able to get what they want from India, in spite of the fact that Dubai is no more witnessing a huge surge in manpower requirement from India. In this case, I think a no-objection certificate could have been obtained from Indian industry as a whole and someone should say we can't overlook Indian carriers before taking such decisions," said Jitendar Bhargav, a former executive director of Air India.
Orhan Abbas, vice-president-India & Nepal, Emirates, said, "India is our largest market in terms of operations on our global network and contributes significantly to the overall revenues of the airline. The country has a large population of global citizens and frequent travellers. It is difficult to say what our market share is, but we are the largest international carrier serving India." "Our company has registered a 50% rise in bookings for Emirates over the past three months, which is by far the largest jump for any airline during this period," Pratik Mazumder, marketing head of online travel portal yatra.com, said.
The airline, which operates 185 flights per week, more than any other foreign carrier, has garnered a 20% share of the total outbound traffic over the past year, according to industry sources, edging out competitors in usurping the void created by the curtailed overseas operations of Air India, the actual national carrier, and debt-laden Kingfisher Airlines.
Emirates is well ahead of peers such as Singapore Airlines (86 flights), British Airways (48) and German carrier Lufthansa, all gateway carriers.
A gateway carrier picks up traffic from other countries and routes it through their hub, which is Dubai in case of Emirates. Dubai is a major destination in its own right and is ideally positioned for Indians wanting to catch flights to other parts of the world.
An industry official expressed concern at what he describes as Emirates' ability "to get what they want" from the Indian government.
"Emirates has always enjoyed government confidence better than other carriers. They have always been able to get what they want from India, in spite of the fact that Dubai is no more witnessing a huge surge in manpower requirement from India. In this case, I think a no-objection certificate could have been obtained from Indian industry as a whole and someone should say we can't overlook Indian carriers before taking such decisions," said Jitendar Bhargav, a former executive director of Air India.
Orhan Abbas, vice-president-India & Nepal, Emirates, said, "India is our largest market in terms of operations on our global network and contributes significantly to the overall revenues of the airline. The country has a large population of global citizens and frequent travellers. It is difficult to say what our market share is, but we are the largest international carrier serving India." "Our company has registered a 50% rise in bookings for Emirates over the past three months, which is by far the largest jump for any airline during this period," Pratik Mazumder, marketing head of online travel portal yatra.com, said.
According
to another travel portal, Via.com, Emirates had a market share of 15% in 2010.
Expanded Rapidly in Last 6 Years
National carrier Air India had a near-14% share then, which has now shrunk to a miniscule slice due to the pilots' strike that has jeopardised its international operations.
Though it started flying to India way back in 1985, Emirates has expanded rapidly in the last six years, adding over a 100 flights per week since 2006, when bilateral agreements with various countries, including the Gulf region, were liberalised.
While Emirates operates 56 weekly flights from Dubai to six US destinations, Indian carriers pale in comparison. Air India, whose long-haul flights have been truncated due to an agitation by 400 of its pilots, plans to scrap one of its two flights to the US as it is proving unprofitable, in addition to the one to Toronto from Delhi. Essentially, Emirates picks up passengers from India and flies them to different parts of the world from Dubai.
"Forty per cent of all international traffic from India is Middle-East bound. With the shutdown of Air India's international operations, especially as it had a monopoly on the US routes, as well as the pullout by American Airlines, Gulf carriers will be the undoubted beneficiaries," travel technology conglomerate Bird Group ED Ankur Bhatia said.
Even a recent policy change allowing all domestic airlines to consume allocated bilateral rights (the right to fly to a foreign destination) until they exhaust them, may not have much impact as Indian carriers do not have enough wherewithal, in terms of the number of aircraft or the funds to buy them, to do so.
In comparison, Emirates has already exhausted its 55,000 seats per week quota to India and also availed of a 2% relaxation allowed under its air service agreement (ASA) with India, which gives it 1,100 additional seats this summer season and the flexibility to add 4-6 more flights.
Industry insiders say the relaxation will give Emirates more scope to add flights on its low-cost arm FlyDubai as there are some Indian destinations where Emirates has used up flying rights.
Global aviation consultancy firm Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation (CAPA) has said in its 2012-13 aviation outlook that its carriers such as Emirates, Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines, which have the most aggressive expansion plans, are pushing for additional bilaterals as their current entitlements are exhausted.
"Government's 2% is not going to make any significant impact, but might allow Emirates the flexibility to introduce A380 on their Delhi service. This comes as a surprise. The government's continuing ad-hoc approach to policymaking, especially relating to bilaterals, gives no one clarity on what is India's bilateral position," said Kapil Kaul, CEO-India, CAPA.
Expanded Rapidly in Last 6 Years
National carrier Air India had a near-14% share then, which has now shrunk to a miniscule slice due to the pilots' strike that has jeopardised its international operations.
Though it started flying to India way back in 1985, Emirates has expanded rapidly in the last six years, adding over a 100 flights per week since 2006, when bilateral agreements with various countries, including the Gulf region, were liberalised.
While Emirates operates 56 weekly flights from Dubai to six US destinations, Indian carriers pale in comparison. Air India, whose long-haul flights have been truncated due to an agitation by 400 of its pilots, plans to scrap one of its two flights to the US as it is proving unprofitable, in addition to the one to Toronto from Delhi. Essentially, Emirates picks up passengers from India and flies them to different parts of the world from Dubai.
"Forty per cent of all international traffic from India is Middle-East bound. With the shutdown of Air India's international operations, especially as it had a monopoly on the US routes, as well as the pullout by American Airlines, Gulf carriers will be the undoubted beneficiaries," travel technology conglomerate Bird Group ED Ankur Bhatia said.
Even a recent policy change allowing all domestic airlines to consume allocated bilateral rights (the right to fly to a foreign destination) until they exhaust them, may not have much impact as Indian carriers do not have enough wherewithal, in terms of the number of aircraft or the funds to buy them, to do so.
In comparison, Emirates has already exhausted its 55,000 seats per week quota to India and also availed of a 2% relaxation allowed under its air service agreement (ASA) with India, which gives it 1,100 additional seats this summer season and the flexibility to add 4-6 more flights.
Industry insiders say the relaxation will give Emirates more scope to add flights on its low-cost arm FlyDubai as there are some Indian destinations where Emirates has used up flying rights.
Global aviation consultancy firm Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation (CAPA) has said in its 2012-13 aviation outlook that its carriers such as Emirates, Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines, which have the most aggressive expansion plans, are pushing for additional bilaterals as their current entitlements are exhausted.
"Government's 2% is not going to make any significant impact, but might allow Emirates the flexibility to introduce A380 on their Delhi service. This comes as a surprise. The government's continuing ad-hoc approach to policymaking, especially relating to bilaterals, gives no one clarity on what is India's bilateral position," said Kapil Kaul, CEO-India, CAPA.
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