India is the largest market for Emirates after Dubai. Essa Sulaiman Ahmad, vice president – India & Nepal, Emirates, talks about Emirates’ commitment to future investment and expansion in the India market By Sudipta Dev
How significant is the contribution of India sector in Emirates’ record increase in profits?
Emirates’ 30 years in India have been defined by progressive investment, partnership and growth. Since its launch in 1985, Emirates has grown its Indian operations to serve 10 destinations across India – Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram – with 183 weekly flights.
According to a recent study released by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), Emirates’ operations in India have contributed over US$ 848 million annually to the country’s GDP while supporting over 86,000 Indian jobs and generating almost US$ 1.7 billion in foreign exchange earnings. We are confident that with increased capacity, we can contribute even more to India’s economic growth and development by opening new conduits for trade and investment, through our growing worldwide network.
In FY2015/16, Emirates carried 5.5 million passengers on its Indian network, totaling 41.9 million passengers carried over the past 10 years. The 2015/16 data shows that around 38 per cent of Emirates’ India passengers travelled to/ from the hubs of Delhi and Mumbai, and 62 per cent travelled to/ from non-hub points. During the same period, Emirates carried over 227,000 tonnes of freight, 59 per cent of which was to/ from non-hub airports, greatly benefitting India’s regional economies, particularly those in the southern Indian markets it serves.
In FY14-15, India’s air cargo market saw growth of 6.4 per cent, whereas Emirates saw growth of 8.2 per cent in the country. In 2015/16 Emirates’ cargo operations in India grew by 5 per cent.
India is the largest market for Emirates after Dubai and is the main contributor to revenue from WAIO (West Asia & Indian Ocean) region to Emirates’ annual profits.
Has Emirates’ brand positioning been affected as a result of Etihad’s aggressive focus on this market?
At Emirates, while we do take competition seriously, our focus is on offering the best service and products to our customers and continually launching innovative solutions to help Emirates become the preferred airline of the Indian market.
What continues to be the strongest driver for Emirates in India?
Being one of the world’s leading global airlines, Emirates continues to add new routes and destinations, connecting more people with more places. It is our strategy to constantly improve and innovate in order to offer the best travel experience to our customers. We continue to invest heavily in developing the most innovative and high quality products on-board, not to forget our multi-national cabin crew who are trained to deliver exceptional service on each and every flight.
Any new Indian routes/ flight frequencies/ increase in capacity planned in the near future? Which cities?
As a long-term strategic partner for India, Emirates is committed to future investment and expansion in the market in support of India’s goal to be the world’s third largest aviation market by 2020. However, our growth is restricted as the 60,200 seats per week capacity entitlement granted to us in 2014 is now fully utilised.
Looking at the expanse of Emirates’ network and with demand for air travel expected to double in the next five to ten years in India, Emirates is well positioned to bring a growing number of tourists and business travellers to the country, further enabling trade and investment. Over the next four years, traffic will need to grow by 67 per cent to reach India’s 2020 growth target of 85 million international passengers, and we hope to agree an increase in our capacity entitlement so that we can support this goal.
What is Emirates’ focus on reinventing customer experience?
At Emirates, we are always in pursuit of excellence when it comes to delivering the best experience possible to our customers, both on-ground and on-board. This includes tailoring our product offering to the particular markets in which we operate. For example, on our services to and from India we cater specifically to Indian passengers – many of whom have their own set of preferences in terms of entertainment, cuisine and language requirements.
Throughout all cabin classes, passengers can enjoy a staggering choice of over 2,500 channels of entertainment on our award-winning in-flight entertainment system ICE, with a large selection of regional content:65 Bollywood & Classic Bollywood Movies and 44 Indian Regional Movies, 21 Indi TV channels, 40 Indian Music channels across nine Indian languages.
Passengers can also look forward to a host of culinary offerings prepared by gourmet chefs; the specially created Indian regional menus that suit the tastes of our Indian customers on all Emirates flights and experience Emirates’ renowned in-flight service from the airline’s multi-national cabin crew from over 135 countries. We set our roster to ensure an adequate number of these particular crew are on board our India services. Our passengers can enjoy the Emirates’ route-specific wine list featuring some exclusive Champagnes, red and white wines and ports sourced from countries across its global route network. Customers onboard can also connect to Wi-Fi.
Young fliers, including infants and unaccompanied minors, are very important to Emirates. We go great lengths to make sure that the flight is as comfortable. These services are continually updated.