Emirates to launch A380 flights to Mumbai in July

MUMBAI: Dubai-based Emirates Airline will commence daily A380 flights to Mumbai from July 21. The airline, the largest A380 operator in the world will be the second carrier to fly the superjumbo to Mumbai. Singapore Airlines is scheduled to launch A380 flights to Mumbai and Delhi from Friday onwards. "Emirates flights EK 500 and EK 501 between Dubai and Mumbai will be up-scaled to a three-class A380 aircraft, representing with a capacity increase of 2,127 seats per week in each direction," said the airline in a release issued on Wednesday. A combined total of 3,779 one-way weekly seats will be deployed on the Mumbai, Delhi, and Hyderabad routes through these aircraft upgrades. This follows the recent bilateral discussions between the governments of Dubai and India, which provided a phased increase of 11,000 seats for Dubai carriers. "Air transport is an important economic driver. It facilitates trade and tourism, and has a multiplier effect through direct and indirect job creation. Emirates has been serving India since our founding year in 1985," Essa Sulaiman Ahmad, Emirates' vice-president, India and Nepal, Emirates Airline said. "We look forward to working with the new government in India to grow India's economy through enhanced aviation connectivity and to realize India's ambition to grow its international aviation market to 85 million passengers by 2020," he added. "India is Emirates largest market, where we offer up to 185 flights each week. We have long wanted to operate our iconic A380 to the country and thanks to the additional capacity recently granted, now we are able to," said Essa.   TOI