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 With stiff competition from private Indian airlines looming large on the high traffic India-Gulf sector, Dubai-based carrier Emirates has started ramping up tis reach to India. The airline has increased its flights to Mumbai and plan to enhance services to Chennai, Kochi and Hyderabad.
Come 2008, private Indian airlines will be allowed to service on the Gulf routes, where currently only public sector players Air-India and Indian airlines are permitted to fly. While the government had initially decided that only those domestic airlines which have been in operation for five years would be given the licence to the Gulf route, tis is now reconsidering this decision. "The minsitry of aviation is mulling over a proposal to take each airline on a case to case basis and evaluate whether it can be allowed to service the lucrative Gulf sector," and industry expert said. If this proposal goes through, the existing players, including international majors, will witness a significant drop in their load factors.
Emirates will be one of the players which will get affected unless it ramps up its operations here. In the next few months, the number of connections from Chennai, Hyderabad and Kochi will also increase.
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