No plan to pick up stake in any airline, says Emirates

Gulf carrier Emirates has said that it was too focused on its own growth to explore opportunities for picking up a stake in any airline in India or elsewhere.

The airline also tried to put an end to the claims from foreign airlines that the UAE Government heavily subsidises Emirates, stating that it does not receive such benefits. “We compete on an even field and the accusation of government subsidies is unfounded,” Essa Sulaiman Ahmad, Vice-President for India and Nepal, told BusinessLine .

Ahmad said though there were reports about Emirates planning to pick up stake in one of the airlines in India, there was no truth in them. “We have no plans to acquire a stake in any airline in India or elsewhere. We are focused on our own growth, investing substantially in strengthening our fleet and expanding our network.”

The last time Emirates held a stake in any airline in the Indian subcontinent was when it had over 40 per cent stake in SriLankan airlines before it decided to opt out. It sold its entire stake back to the Sri Lankan government in 2010.

Ahmad said India has always been a key market for Emirates but because of limited seat allocation, its share is much less than what it would like to have. “We do not compare ourselves to other airlines in terms of market share. The demand for travel to India is high and we would love to utilise that however due to the limited seat allocations our healthy share is less than what we hope for.” He also said that the criticism against Emirates that it regularly receives subsidies from its government was unjustified. “The carrier was established in 1985 with $10 million in seed capital. It does not receive and never has received any form of subsidy from the UAE government,” Ahmad said.

He said the growth of the airline can be attributed to the Gulf’s geographical position, the Dubai government’s pro-aviation policies and the product they offer. Emirates, which started operations in India since 1985, has 186 flights to and from 10 destinations in India every week and currently offers 60,200 seats. There are about 1 million Indians residing in the UAE. Most of the airline’s customers are either business travellers or those visiting family and relatives abroad.

It already flies A380, the world’s biggest aircraft, to Mumbai and has also upgraded the aircraft on several routes, and plans to replace the older ones with newer ones soon, Ahmad pointed out.

Quoting a National Council of Applied Economic Research estimates, he said that once the airline utilises its capacity quota, it will contribute $848.6 million to India’s GDP and support 86,254 jobs annually to the Indian economy. “We always hope to get more seats and inventory to serve the demand and the rise in travel and hope that the government allows growth and more seats allocated to Emirates.”

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