Unable to fly higher in India, Emirates soars elsewhere
is realigning its strategy, shifting its focus from India due to continued bilateral restrictions limiting its ability to expand operations.
Speaking to ET, Adnan Kazim, deputy president and chief commercial officer of Emirates, said India, once a top-five market for the airline, has since slipped to among its top 10 markets globally.
Under the current air services pact between India and Dubai, weekly seat entitlements for UAE carriers, including Emirates, are capped at 65,000. A reciprocal cap applies to Indian carriers flying to Dubai. These limits have stayed unchanged for more than a decade, despite surging demand and rapid growth in outbound travel from India.
"All 171 weekly frequencies we operate to India are flying above 95% seat factor," said Kazim. "We're spilling traffic. The demand far exceeds the supply."
Despite India's importance to Emirates' global network, Kazim said the market's relative standing has slipped. "India used to be among the top five markets. Now it's in the top 10," he said.
The cap on adding seats to India is leading Emirates to expand its footprint to other markets. "We've been growing consistently, year after year, by at least 3-5%," said Kazim. "But we've not been able to add a single seat to India since 2014-nearly 11 years. Even though India is important, Emirates is shifting its dependency to many other markets and continents that are adding value to our network."
He added that Emirates has added destinations and capacity in Asia, the Americas, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. "That could've been India playing that role... but it's not the case."
Kazim said the airline is open to partnerships with Indian carriers but added that such arrangements have limited value without additional seat capacity. "You need to open up the gateway to create connectivity between domestic feeders and international routes," he said. "Flights are already full. A partner cannot add much in that situation."
Emirates has also shown interest in expanding into
Tier 2 Indian cities
, but Kazim said those opportunities are restricted as well. "Even these new airports need business. When you build and make a size of airport, you need the contribution coming from international airlines," he said.
He also pointed to India's low international travel volumes. "You're moving about 120 million international passengers with a population of 1.5 billion. That number should be much higher."
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