Emirates to add 31 weekly flights to India

Dubai, Nov 2 (UNI) Dubai-based airline Emirates will be adding 31 weekly flights to its existing service in India till February 2009, it was announced here today.

The award-winning carrier has embarked on its second major expansion campaign for India in 2008, and the enhanced capacity will reaffirm Emirates' status as the single largest international carrier in the Indian skies, operating 163 weekly flights to 10 gateways.

The expansion will be implemented in a phased manner and key cities Mumbai and New Delhi will be the main beneficiaries. Important commercial hubs including Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kochi will also be served with additional frequencies, an offcial release said.

From February 1, 2009, Emirates will serve Mumbai with a fifth-daily operation, providing the city's burgeoning business and leisure traffic with a service almost every five hours.

The enhanced capacity 35 flights per week will provide corporate travellers smooth connections to global business hubs via Dubai.

Cargo capacity on the route will increase to 641 tonnes per week.

Following on from its recent introduction of seven additional services, Emirates will further boost its footprint in New Delhi with the launch of seven additional frequencies with immediate effect. The Indian capital city which was initially served by 18 weekly flights will have a total weekly frequency of 25 flights per week post expansion. Additional flights will boost weekly cargo capacity to 389 tonnes.

The Dubai-Bangalore operation will be strengthened with the start of five additional flights between now and February 2009, bringing its total frequency to 20 weekly flights. With immediate effect Emirates will introduce four additional flights per week to Chennai and in the next phase of expansion in February 2009 one more flight will be added, bringing the total weekly count to 19 flights.

Emirates will introduce to Kochi a double-daily operation by launching two additional flights per week with immediate effect, and adding another two flights in February 2009 while to Hyderabad, it will introduce three additional flights per week.

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