| "We had flown down doctors to Hyderabad when we had started operating in that sector and the formula had worked. We are hoping for similar results from the eastern region as well", said Nabil Sultan, vice-president, commercial operations, West Asia and Indian Ocean, at a press meet with media delegation in Dubai. |
| After the visit of the delegation of Doctors from Dubai, reportedly 10 medical cases are on every flight to Hyderabad from Dubai now. |
| Sultan believes that a similar number would also travel to Kolkata to avail medical treatment once the doctors survey the facilities available here. |
| The reason patients came to India for treatment was that superior quality medical treatment is not available in Dubai yet, he said. |
| Since the beginning of its operations to Kolkata in April of 2006, Emirates flights have enjoyed a load factor varying between 40 to 50 per cent of the 2000 weekly seats allotted to the airline. |
| However, Sultan is optimistic about having aircrafts flying to full capacity very soon, especially with the industrial boom in the eastern region which has increased the disposable income of the middle class. |
| Emirates operates Airbus A330-200 aircrafts in this route in three and two-class configurations. |
| The cargo capacity per week for this region is 95.2 tonnes including belly-hole cargo and A310-300 freighters. |
| Approximately 80 per cent travellers to Dubai from Kolkata on Emirates flights are leisure travellers. |
| To increase this traffic, Emirates is also flying down tour guides from the Gulf region and Europe to Kolkata so that they can see the city for themselves and , subsequently, bring more business to this region. |
| The airline also has plans of tying up with tourism boards in Indian states to promote tourism and airline ticket sales, in turn. It is also tying up with Jet Airways and Indian Airlines to carry Emirates passengers to its seven gateways. |
| Currently Emirates has 63 flights out of India. By the end of October this year, the number is expected to increase to 71 when flight operations will begin in Bangalore. |
| "Once we begin services to a destination, we do not believe in withdrawing it for reasons of commercial crisis. Before beginning operations in Kolkata, we observed the market for a long time. We have done so too for Bangalore this time", Sultan said, when asked whether Emirates would consider withdrawing services to destination which were low on load factor. |
| Out of Emirates' 6700 odd cabin crew, almost 10 per cent are Indians. Anothyer 480 are under employment at the airports in India and the airline's customer care centre in Mumbai. |
| Emirates is increasing its capacity by another 400 this year when it will open another such centre, said Sultan. |
| (The correspondent's trip to Dubai was sponsored by Emirates Airlines) |
Explore Business Standard