Features

Gateway Skies

15 Nov 2016 by Akanksha Maker

The glorious saga of Gulf airlines is no news to the aviation geek. In February this year, Business Traveller India’s feature “The Gulf Between” reported on the rise of Middle East’s carriers with respect to South East Asian hubs. We also presented an overview of Indian airlines and their performance this August with “Fly High”. The article stressed on India’s vision of being the third largest aviation market by 2020. This bold forecast has invited airlines based out of Middle East to consider India as a significant market. Their expansion plans entail new routes, upgradation of aircraft and a focussed marketing strategy.

This year, 185 million Indian passengers took to the air. Around 20 per cent went international. As per DGCA’s (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) January-March 2016 report, out of the total passengers travelling out of India, around 33 per cent flew to United Arab Emirates (this includes Dubai and Abu Dhabi), while about 4 per cent travelled to Qatar and about 5 per cent travelled to Oman.

The Gulf serves as the mid-point for Indian travellers flying to Europe and beyond. Besides, there is a large number of Indian population that resides and works in the Gulf.

Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad are aptly titled MEB3 (Middle East big three) by aviation experts and an analysis by OAG, an air travel intelligence company, reveals that India is the fourth largest market for the trio this year.

Here’s an overview of “the big three” carriers out of the Middle East and their operations in India.

Emirates A380s at Dubai Airport

Emirates

The largest airline of the Middle East, Emirates launched operations in 1985, flying to Mumbai and Delhi. Today, it flies to nine Indian destinations: Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Trivandrum – with 176 weekly flights. Since its entrance into India, it has carried more than 42 million passengers, to and from the country to cities around the world, across its network of 140 destinations.

It deploys both Boeing and Airbus wide-bodied aircraft for its operations in the country. Emirates launched its much awaited A380 service to Mumbai in 2014. Since then, more than 3,49,000 passengers have flown the double-decker aircraft and can connect to more than 40 destinations through Dubai.

“In March 2016, we enhanced our services to Kolkata, by deploying a second B777 on the route. In 2016, our service to Ahmedabad and Trivandrum were also replaced with a Boeing 777-200ER. We will upgrade aircraft on other routes depending on the need, demand and capacity constraints on the given route,” says Essa Sulaiman Ahmad, vice president of India and Nepal at Emirates.

The airline was granted 60,200 seats per week by DGCA in 2014 which it has fully utilised. Emirates claims it is well positioned to further enable trade and investment into burgeoning India, especially since the demand for air traffic is slated to double in the next ten years.

Ahmad adds, “Over the next four years, traffic will need to grow by 67 per cent to reach India’s 2020 growth target of 85 million international passengers, and we hope to agree an increase in our capacity entitlement so that we can support this goal. India is the largest market for Emirates after Dubai and is the main contributor to revenue from WAIO (West Asia and Indian Ocean) region to Emirates’ annual profits.”

For this year’s first quarter (January-March) as per figures by DGCA, Emirates accounted for 16 per cent of the passengers flying out of India on a foreign airline.

Dubai’s strategic position on the globe and importance in terms of business travel has catalysed Emirates’ growth significantly. “Our business model is to connect Dubai to the world, and connect the world through Dubai with efficient air transport services. Its strategic location at the crossroads of Europe, Africa, America and Asia, has been at the foundation of Emirates’ success in building up a global hub for travellers, especially for Indians.”

“From Dubai, we are able to serve about one-third of the world’s population within a four-hour flying radius, two-thirds of the world’s population within an eight-hour flying radius, and almost 90 per cent of the world’s population with non-stop flights using the latest ultra-long range aircraft.” 

Focussing on its inflight services, passengers can access 10mb of free data, enough to send emails, blog, tweet, post on Facebook, or browse the internet. A token $1 charge is levied for the next 500mb. Emirates also offers customised menus created specially to suit the Indian palate.

Qatar Airways B777

Qatar Airways

Internationally, Qatar Airways is one of the fastest growing airlines with a route expansion growth averaging 28 per cent per year.   

With 100 weekly flights, Qatar Airways flies to 13 Indian destinations namely Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Goa, Hyderabad, Kozhikode, Nagpur, Trivandrum, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Kochi (11 times a week) and double-daily flights to the capital.

It began operations in 1994 and today operates at more destinations in India than any other country on its network. The airline operates the best of Boeing and Airbus aircraft on its Indian routes — this includes both wide- and narrow-bodied aircraft — B787, B777, A330 and A320. Qatar increased capacity on its Kochi, Bengaluru and Kolkata routes in 2013 by upgrading aircraft (B777 on Bengaluru and A330 on Kochi routes). It hasn’t added any new Indian routes on its map this year however it added Nagpur in 2015.

Qatar Airways also claims that India along with China, Africa and South America are its key focus regions. For this year’s first quarter (January-March) as per figures by DGCA, about six per cent of total Indians flying overseas chose Qatar’s national airline. According to Vincent Coste, vice president ISC at Qatar Airways, the airline has been seeking more capacity from DGCA in order to expand its services to the country. 

“India represents the highest growth potential and demand for quality (for Qatar Airways). It is growing as a main economic hub and shows enormous potential, both as a competitive passenger market and also a centre for business travellers. As the Indian aviation sector prepares for its next phase, it will witness increasing demand from the upcoming metro cities and this increasing demand from tier-II markets will be a key growth driver for airlines. This is one of the major reasons we have daily connections to Amritsar, Goa, Nagpur, Kochi and Ahmedabad.”

Indians also form the largest demographic group of Qatar at a population of 6,00,000 further adding impetus to traffic between the two countries. Qatar Airways, like the other carriers out of the Middle East also cashes in on its convenient location on the globe. Its hub — Doha — is located at a six hour flying distance from 80 per cent of the world’s population. Hamad International Airport offers seamless connections to over 150 destinations which includes recently added cities — Sydney, Pisa, Helsinki and Krabi. 

The airline currently doesn’t have codeshare agreements with any Indian airline, however it had shown interest in taking a stake in India’s leading budget airline IndiGo. Al Baker, chief executive officer at Qatar Airways (during the Dubai Air Show) says, “I couldn’t take a stake in IndiGo because the Indian authorities have restrictions on airlines taking part in IPOs of an airline.”

Alleged talks between Air Costa, South India’s privately owned airline and Qatar Airways, floated in August this year, but weren’t confirmed by either airline. 

Qatar Airways is yet to bring its A380 service to India but is currently prioritising increasing capacity on its Indian routes and a possible codeshare agreement. 

In terms of in-flight services, Qatar Airways passengers from India can enjoy on-board wifi and GSM service on flights served by its B787, A350, A380, A319 as well as select A320 and A330 aircraft, while flying to other sectors via airline’s hub Doha. Indian food holds foremost significance in its on-board menu.

Etihad Airways A380

Etihad Airways

The second largest and national airline of the United Arab Emirates, the relatively new Etihad Airways was founded in 2003. It started operations in India in 2004 with Mumbai and New Delhi. Chief executive officer at Etihad Airways, James Hogan cited India’s importance in Etihad’s expansions nine years ago itself, when he said, “India has and always will be one of Etihad’s cornerstone markets because of the historical ties with the UAE and both countries’ growing position as world-class business and holiday destinations.”

Route expansions continued until a strategic turn took place in 2013, when Etihad Airways signed a partnership with Jet Airways, India’s leading full-service carrier. Both airlines together now service 15 direct routes between India and Abu Dhabi and offer a combined total of 44,000 weekly seats. Jet Airways and Etihad offer a network of 130 destinations. The first six months of 2015 itself saw Jet Airways transfer 1,82,000 guests onto Etihad Airways’ network.

“Our strategic collaboration with Etihad Airways includes network integration, joint sales effort, sharing of resources, collaborated procurement and knowledge transfer. Together with Etihad Airways, we now operate over 4,300 international flights a month, more flights to/from India than any other airline and provide our guests with an unparalleled global and domestic network, with perhaps the best and most convenient connectivity,” says Naresh Goyal, chairman of Jet Airways.

“Before our equity deal with Jet Airways, we had two per cent of the international traffic out of India. Today, with Jet Airways, we have 21 per cent of the market, and combined, we are the dominant carriers out of India,” says James Hogan, president and chief executive at Etihad Airways.

This year saw Etihad Airways introduce its A380 aircraft on the Mumbai-Abu Dhabi route. Passengers travelling on the double decker aircraft can now connect to London, New York, Sydney and other destinations on Etihad’s network from Abu Dhabi. Its (496-seater) A380 move also aims to increase capacity as the aircraft seats 50 per cent more passengers than the previous Boeing B777-300ER.

With the induction of this aircraft, Etihad Airways also introduced its notable luxury offerings — The Residence and First Apartments — to India. The Residence features a living room, separate en suite shower room, double bedroom, and a personal Savoy-trained butler, while First Apartments entails a private living space with a reclining lounge chair and an ottoman.

Etihad Airways also announced a groundbreaking increase of 63 per cent in full-year passenger traffic with its partner Jet Airways. In 2015, both airlines carried 3.3 million passengers between India and Abu Dhabi. Trade ties valued at US$60 billion continue to burgeon between the two countries, that further boosts the airline’s business in India. Commerce between the UAE and India is estimated to grow by more than 60 per cent in the next five years. Etihad Airways’ current Indian destinations connecting to Abu Dhabi are Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Mumbai and Trivandrum. Jet Airways offers the additional Indian connections to Pune, Lucknow, Goa and Mangaluru, as well as many domestic connections.

Oman Air B787-9

Oman Air

Muscat-based carrier, Oman Air, has emerged as another power player from the Middle East recently. It currently flies to 11 destinations in India with 21,147 weekly seats. The airline operates 126 flights a week between Muscat and India.

Paul Gregorowitsch, chief executive officer of Oman Air says, “One of Oman Air’s first international services, which was launched in November 1993, was to Trivandrum. Since then, we have launched flights to a further ten destinations in India, six of which are served by double daily services. The remaining five destinations each enjoy ten or 11 frequencies per week.”

Gregorowitsch also expressed the airline’s interest in increasing this number by 36 per cent. It is in talks with the government of India to request for bilateral rights in order to fly at least 29,000 seats a week.

The airline is also keen to strategically partner with an Indian airline for sharing passengers rather than purchasing an equity stake in it. Around 7,00,000 Indians call Oman home and 2,900 Indian firms operate out of that country.

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