Emirates Airlines to operate additional Dubai-Kolkata flights

Emirates Airlines, the national airline of Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is introducing additional flights between Dubai and Kolkata in India from December 3, 2009.

Emirates will operate the new flight on Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.

This will take the total number of fights that Emirates operates between Dubai and Kolkata to 12 from 7 flights at present.

On Mondays and Fridays, the flight will land in Kolkata at 7.15 p.m. and take off for Dubai at 8.30 p.m. On Sundays, Thursdays and Saturdays, the flight will reach Kolkata at 7.40 a.m. and leave for Dubai at 8.55 a.m.

According to an official of Emirates Airlines, the carrier is launching the new Dubai-Kolkata flight with a view to cashing in on the withdrawal of many international airlines as well as reduction in the frequency by some others on the Kolkata route.

Emirates witnessed an increase of more than 10% in passenger load – to over 80% – in the last 10 months. And, during this period, while Gulf Air, the flag-carrier airline of the Kingdom of Bahrain, and British Airways, the national airline of the United Kingdom, pulled out from Kolkata, the German carrier Lufthansa cut the frequency of its service.

Orhan Abbas, vice-president (India and Nepal), for Emirates Airlines, said in a statement that Emirates is also considering introducing, along with the new Dubai-Kolkata services, attractive return economy-class fares to Dubai in the winter of 2009.  These special economy-class fares will be valid for travel up to November 30, 2009, for a maximum stay of 3 months.

He said Emirates is planning other “exciting offers” on the Kolkata route – like the  business-class passengers flying to select destinations on the Emirates Airlines network being offered the special ‘companion free’ offer, the Dubai stopover offer, the global hotel offer, and the Durban launch offer.

According to Geetika Seth, Emirates Airlines’ sales manager for eastern India, many passengers of Emirates use Dubai as a stopover destination en route to cities like Zurich, London, Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Emirates Airlines, which entered its 25^th year of its existence in October 2009, at present flies from Dubai to 10 cities in India – New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Tiruvananthapuram, Kochi, and  Kozhikode.