DUBAI, U.A.E, 28th May 2014 Emirates, a global connector of people and places will expand its A380 network to 28 destinations, when it launches a daily A380 service to Mumbai International Airport on 21st July.
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. This offers passengers flying to India from key destinations in North America and Europe the chance to experience Emirates’ hugely popular flagship aircraft on this route.
Emirates’ A380 was last in India on 12th March at the Indian Airshow in Hyderabad.
In addition, Emirates will deploy larger Boeing 777 aircraft to Delhi and Hyderabad to serve growing demand. Delhi will have 980 additional one-way weekly seats while Hyderabad will increase its capacity to add 672 one-way weekly seats.
A combined total of 3,779 one-way weekly seats will be deployed on Mumbai, Delhi, and Hyderabad 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, and it is our largest market today which we serve with 185 flights each week. 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,” said Ahmed Khoory, Emirates’ Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations- West Asia & Indian Ocean.
India’s National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) recently modelled the impact of Emirates up-gauging daily services to Mumbai from Boeing 777s to an Airbus A380. The annual incremental economic benefit from up-gauging one service is US$8.3 million in additional GDP per return flight and the creation and support of over 1,000 jobs.
The Emirates A380 operating on the Mumbai route will feature 14 private First Class suites, 76 Business Class lie-flat seats and a spacious cabin for 399 Economy Class passengers.
On board, passengers can experience a range of unique facilities in all cabins – from the famous Shower Spas in First Class, to the A380 Onboard Lounge where passengers in the premium cabins can relax in a social environment during the flight; as well as 11.4” touch screen LED personal TVs.
Passengers across all cabins can enjoy up to 1,800 channels of the latest movies, TV shows and music from around the world alongside a range of games on the award-winning ice inflight entertainment system. The latest technology allows passengers to stay connected throughout the flight with high-speed Wi-Fi access and mobile phone and data services.
“Many customers specifically book their flights to our destinations knowing that they will have the chance to fly on the A380. Now that Mumbai is being added to our global network of A380 destinations, I’m sure this will come as welcome news to many of our passengers across Europe and North America who can now fly all the way from their origin point of departure to Mumbai exclusively on the A380,” said Ahmed Khoory.
Emirates currently has 48 A380s in service, more than any other airline globally. Emirates received 12 of the giant double decker aircraft over the last year. More than 25 million passengers have travelled on the Emirates A380 since it was first launched in 2008.
Emirates operates 185 flights per week to 10 gateways in India. This offers travelers on Emirates global network, which includes 85 cities in the Americas, Europe, Africa and Middle East, a range of convenient flight options to one of Asia’s most exciting leisure and business destinations.
