IndiGo plans flights from Dubai to New Delhi and Mumbai

Budget carrier IndiGo will soon start services between Dubai and New Delhi and Dubai and Mumbai, company officials said in Dubai.

The flights to New Delhi from Dubai will begin in September and those connecting Mumbai a month later.

“This is our first foray in the Middle East. For a lot of people who travel from this part to India, every dirham counts. People work very hard here and should not be paying exorbitant prices for a three-hour leg,” IndiGo President Aditya Ghosh told a press conference here.

Once the flights commence, IndiGo will be the second no-frills Indian airline and the fourth low-cost carrier to establish a route between the two countries. Air India Express, fly Dubai and Air Arabia fly between the UAE and different Indian cities as well.

Mr. Ghosh called for more low-cost airlines between the Emirates and India. The airline official did not rule out connecting other cities in the UAE, including Ras al Khaimah, with India in the future.

Indian expatriates from the RAK recently requested flights home from the emirate, rather than having to travel to Sharjah or Dubai, he said.

The airline will also start operations to Trivandrum and Kochi and Kolkata by the end of this year, he added.

The carrier will also connect Muscat with the sub-continent from October, Mr. Ghosh said.
Source: The Hindu Flights to Mumbai

Emirates ice system wins Skytrax award

DUBAI – For your seventh year inside a row, Emirates Airline’s ‘ice’ inflight entertainment program has been awarded the ‘World’s Greatest Airline Inflight Entertainment’ award at the 2011 Skytrax Globe Airline Awards, says a press release.

The awards were based on voting by more than 18.8 million airline passengers from 100 a variety of nationalities Inflight Entertainment (IFE) has become a key competitive benchmark for airlines worldwide. Emirates has maintained its industry-leading position by continuously investing in and expanding its entertainment offering; resulting in an amazing number of movies, television and music from around the world.

Emirates Airlines latest IFE system, ice Digital Widescreen (‘ice’ stands for information, communications and entertainment), offers a staggering choice of more than 1200 channels of entertainment, for instance more than 280 movies from around the world, hundreds of TV options and thousands of music tracks from contemporary to classical.
Source: Nation.com.pk

Make way for Airbus A-380

A medical emergency has proved once again that the new airports being built in India are capable of handling the world's largest commercial jetliner — the Airbus A-380. Recently an Emirates Airlines A-380 aircraft, while on a scheduled flight from Sydney to Dubai, made an emergency landing at Hyderabad airport. This was the fourth instance of the A-380 landing and taking off safely from Indian airports.

All the A-380 flights into India have been special flights, but the largest commercial aircraft has landed and taken off from three different airports. In 2007, Airbus brought the aircraft into Delhi as a special flight for Kingfisher Airlines; the plane then went to Mumbai. The following year the aircraft landed in Hyderabad to take part in the maiden edition of the Hyderabad air show. In fact, at that time the aircraft landed at the now defunct Begumpet airport where the air show was held and then took a short flight to the newly opened Shamshahbad airport before departing for its home base in France.
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Emirates becomes world's third largest airline

With only 144 aircraft in its fleet, Emirates has just become the world's third largest airline by capacity, overtaking US carrier United and behind only Delta and American Airlines.

Emirates' rise up the capability charts comes thanks towards airline's decision to use only the world's largest planes. Emirates already has 15 Airbus A380 superjumbos in its fleet, having a staggering 75 more to occur -- plus 53 stretched Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, with 49 of those nevertheless being delivered from Seattle.

Business travellers can expect to see significant growth in Emirates' routes and flights because of the new deliveries, with Australia certain being on a list for more flights and bigger planes.

Emirates includes a capability advantage in comparison with other airlines due to the fact Dubai is really a convenient geographic hub for flights in between Australia and Europe, Africa and also the Middle East. Stops in Bangkok and Singapore on some Australian routes mean that Emirates is really a great choice for travellers to southeast Asia as well. Search the airline to enhance direct alternatives to Dubai, connecting times to major European and African destinations, and for more alternatives for stopping en route.

Plus, continuing flights across the Tasman -- as the only airline to offer Very first Class and a single of the few to offer international calibre Company Class -- make Emirates an attractive choice from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to New Zealand. Expect more flights and higher capability for these flights inside the future.

So where's Qantas inside the rankings? Back in 15th place, behind Air China and only slightly ahead of European low-cost carrier Ryanair, according to the latest facts inside the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation.

Emirates is probably to drop down the capability table inside the short term, though. United Airlines' numbers don't include the fleet of Continental Airlines, which merged with United but is nevertheless reporting separately. Joint reporting will push the merged United-Continental up to the top of the list, knocking Emirates Airlines back to fourth place.

However, Emirates won't stay in fourth place for long. The enormous growth spurt that 75 A380s and 49 777-300ERs will bring will add practically 60,000 seats to Emirates' capacity.

And that is not even counting the 70 big Airbus A350s. Emirates has yet to announce a seating plan for ones A350, that is Airbus' competitor to Boeing's 787 Dreamliner. But it is probably being on the 270-320 passenger mark: bigger than the A330s flown by Qantas and soon being introduced by Virgin Blue.

Emirates Wins CAPA Airline of Year Award

MANILA, Philippines – Emirates was referred to as the winner of the prestigious Center for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) Airline of the Year Award for 2010 at a gala reception in Singapore recently.

Air New Zealand's Rob Fyfe was referred to as CEO of the Year. The awards ceremony was held as component of this year’s seventh annual Asia Aviation Outlook summit, showcasing airline and airport CEOs from about the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions.

The CAPA Airline of the Year is awarded on the carrier that has had the most effective impact on a development of the airline marketplace in the region, establishing itself as a leader, and also the benchmark for others to follow.

It is the second time Emirates has won CAPA’s coveted top award getting previously won in 2005.

“Emirates’ achievements in the past year had been extraordinary, as the most profitable and fastestgrowing airlines in the world," mentioned CAPA chairman Peter Harbison.

"Emirates’ influence on competitor airline strategy continues to increase, as it aggressively enters new markets and expands others and demonstrates leadership in highquality passenger service."

Harbison mentioned Emirates’ development has contributed to Dubai’s surge in the rankings of the world’s biggest international hubs, from 26th location in 2001 handling 12.4 million international passengers to sixth location last year with 40.1 million."

"The CAPA Airline of the Year for 2010 is specific to acquire a lasting and irreversible impact on a evolution of the worldwide aviation and tourism industries.” (EHL)

Source: http://www.mb.com.ph

Emirates flight makes emergency landing at Kochi

A Dubai-bound international flight of the Emirates airlines Tuesday made an emergency landing at the Kochi airport in the southern Indian state of Kerala, after it developed a technical snag after take-off, a senior official said.

"The Koch-Dubai Emirates flight with 205 passengers and 14 crew on board took off from the Nedumbassery airport at 04:30 a.m. but made an emergency landing at Kochi airport 30 minutes later, after the pilot spotted a hydraulic system failure," the official said.

The plane was immediately taken to the parking bay for a thorough inspection and the passengers have been shifted to a hotel, the official added.

Source: Xinhua