'For every seat we sell, there are probably 10 takers,' says Emirates president as Dubai bilaterals not revised for years

NEW DELHI: Emirates does not see the huge transit business the mega carrier gets at its Dubai hub from flights to and from India getting impacted by the expansion of Air India and with IndiGo launching long hauls to Europe from next month. The reason: India has so far not acceded to Dubai’s request for increasing the long-exhausted bilaterals or flying rights. As a result, airlines of both India and Dubai are operating the maximum possible flights under the current air service agreement (ASA), with no room to add services till the bilaterals are revised.

“We’ve been stuck with 65,000 seats in each direction (Dubai-India and vice-versa) for just over 11 years now (during which period the demand for travel has grown exponentially). For every seat we sell, there are probably 10 takers. So I don’t see getting impacted by IndiGo and Air India expansion plans. In fact, there probably be a major relief valve for the pent up demand that has been in India for decades. Frankly, good luck to AI and IndiGo with getting airplanes at the pace they need,” Emirates Airlines president Tim Clark said Sunday in Delhi, where he is among the global aviation leaders attending the IATA AGM.

Stressing the need for more bilaterals, he said: “Fifteen years ago, the population to Dubai was about 25 lakh. This is over 80 lakh. Dubai is one of the fastest growing cities in the world and 40% of the ethnic mix is of Indian origin. If you look at the way the Indian community has moved to and from Dubai over the last 10 or 11 years, you can see the scale of what is not happening by not giving seats to Emirates or wherever else it may be. The Indian government has a policy at the moment of restricting capacity of foreign carriers into India, and they have their own reasons for that.”

Clark said he hopes “this will change when (India) realises the significance, the criticality of air transport as a wealth multiplier for their own economy. After all, it's been a it's been a catalyst for so many economies in the last 20-30 years,” he said.

India is planning to have aviation hubs at its airports like Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. “You have to have open access. We (Dubai) have got 80 lakh and we can make a hub out of it. So you have every opportunity on the planet to make a hub and make it very good with your 1.4 billion population. But if you have these sorts of restrictive practices (bilaterals), it doesn't make much sense when you look at the other aspects of Indian economy which are expanding,” he said.

He said since the existing bilaterals have been exhausted, there is no possibility of Emirates starting flights to the upcoming airports in India like Navi Mumbai and Greater Noida.