Emirates set to launch eight flights a week from Bangalore

Emirates set to launch eight flights a week from Bangalore
The Hindu

The UAE airline's service will start on October 29

# Airline to have discounted fares as introductory offer
# Company's Mumbai call centre to be expanded

Bangalore: Realising the potential that the southern region offers, Emirates, the international airline of the United Arab Emirates, will be launching eight flights a week from Bangalore starting October 29, taking the number of destinations in the South to five and in the country as a whole to eight. To mark the launch, the airline has discounted fares as an introductory offer.

Announcing this at a press conference here on Friday, the senior vice-president (commercial operations), West Asia and the Indian Ocean, Nabil Sultan, said Emirates had weekly capacities of 15,000 seats and 120 tonnes of cargo in one direction. The passenger load factor was over 80 per cent from India. This growth would continue because India was an emerging market. Emirates had done a detailed study of the market potential, he said and mentioned that Bangalore, besides being an information technology hub, had other sectors such as biotechnology and medical tourism that could add to the flow of traffic.

Mr. Sultan said that with Bangalore coming on the radar of Emirates, passengers would have 13, 14 and 20 new gateways in West Asia, Africa, and Europe through 150, 82 and 211 weekly flights respectively.

"To Bangalore, we will operate some of the world's most technologically advanced aircraft — the modern Airbus A330-200 and the larger capacity Boeing 777-200 — in a three-class configuration, ensuring every passenger in every cabin enjoys unprecedented comfort, service and attention."

To ensure the airline's on-ground service, the staff in the company's call centre in Mumbai would be expanded from 150 to between 350 and 400 in the next few years, as it handled calls from all over the world, he said.

As an introductory offer, from October 29 to November 30, Emirates will offer return fares (excluding taxes) to Dubai from Bangalore at Rs. 14,000, Rs. 27,000 and Rs. 32,000; to the U.K. at Rs. 20,000 and Rs. 90,000; and to New York at Rs. 38,400, Rs. 1.36 lakh and Rs. 2.5 lakh in economy, business and first class respectively.