Dubai low-cost carrier flydubai’s expansion in India is “almost limitless” if it had access to more capacity on routes into the sub-continent, according to CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith.
Last week reports emerged that Emirates and flydubai are expected to boost capacity into the sub-continent in the second half of the year with an allocation of an extra 11,200 seats between them. Of that number, 70 percent of the seats will go to Emirates, The National newspaper reported.
Flydubai said separately it will double its network in India with the launch of flights to Delhi, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. It already flies to Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Lucknow – making India the third largest country that flydubai operates to by number of points. The airline did not give a launch date for the new flights.
Al Ghaith told Arabian Business that the Indian market remained drastically under-served.
“We are starting now, but it is a huge market, huge potential and we have nothing, whatever we have is a drop in the big ocean,” he said.
“We’re not getting enough, that’s why believe that we need more. But, it is not something that I can judge or it is not something that I can predict, it is a government to government (process) and it is up to the government to kind of use and work to reach.
“We will motivate, we work hard to convince and to sort of put our point of view across. But, it is definitely a market that is huge for us, it is very close and the Indians… they have aspirations and they are right, because they have all the right ticks in the box to be a world power and I think as you move to becoming more worldly you have to be accessible too.
Asked how much capacity he wanted in the sub-continent, he said: “In India it is almost limitless. Whatever capacity is granted and wherever the place, especially with our type of operation, we can go.
“We know that there are markets that need to be served, because India is a huge economic (nation) and has a huge link to our part of the world.”
Emirates is currently the largest foreign airline operating in India, operating 185 weekly flights to ten destinations. Its share of outbound traffic from the country is about 13 percent. Its weekly seat capacity is 54,200, although it has been lobbying the Indian government for an increase.
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