Emirates Airline welcomes India’s decision to allow A380s to land

Emirates Airlines welcomed the decision by the Indian aviation authorities to allow A380 planes to land to its airports, but said deploying the super jumbo aircraft will depend on passenger demand.

Emirates Airline has welcomed a decision by the Indian aviation authorities to allow A380 planes to land at its airports for the first time.
But the carrier said deploying the super jumbo aircraft would depend on passenger demand.
A decision to introduce the double-decker plane on Indian routes would boost competition and could drives fares lower on the popular route.
"Any decision to deploy an A380 on our network is dependent on passenger demand on that particular route as well as the ability of airports to handle the aircraft," the airline said.
"We will be reviewing our existing operations, and look forward to serving Indian travellers with our flagship aircraft in the near future."
India would allow the A380 to land at four airports that can handle the aircraft, according to earlier reports. They are New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.
"This is very good news, the Indian market is buoyant, Emirates will certainly be pleased to put the A380 into India with its increased capacity," said John Strickland, director of JLS Consulting.
However, the move may not mean Emirates would boost overall passenger numbers, because of strict seat allocations for international carriers, according to Will Horton, senior analyst at CAPA - Centre for Aviation.
"This is not a negative story. Emirates can use the A380, which has its best product, on peak flights so it can capture more demand during that time. Relatively slower periods could see changes in capacity," he said.
Indian authorities had prevented the A380 from flying to the country in a bid to support Air India and prevent the national carrier from losing market share on international travel to rivals overseas.
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