Emirates beats Lufthansa for Airbus A380 flights to Mumbai

Emirates has secured Mumbai airport's approval to continue Airbus A380 operations in the winter schedule. Emirates and Lufthansa were in a race to secure Mumbai airport's only parking bay, which can handle the Airbus A380 aircraft but Mumbai International Airport Ltd has given its nod for Emirates A380 flight in winter schedule beginning end October.

The issue arose because schedules of Lufthansa and Emirates flights at Mumbai clash and are separated by are separated by few minutes.

"Emirates can confirm that it is has received an approval from Mumbai International Airport Private Limited to continue operating its A380 service between Dubai and Mumbai for the winter 2014 timetable. The A380 service will continue to operate as flight numbers EK500 and EK501,'' the airline said in an email response.

"Since Emirates commenced A380 operations to Mumbai in July, the aircraft has been immensely popular with travellers flying to and from the city, with consistently high load factors. Emirates is pleased to be able to continue to serve its passengers on the route with its flagship aircraft,'' the airline added.

Emirates is the world's largest Airbus A380 operator with 52 planes of that type in service and another 88 on order.

Currently, Singapore Airlines operates Airbus A380 flights to Delhi and Mumbai and Emirates flies A380 planes to Mumbai. Lufthansa is keen to introduce Airbus A380 services to both Mumbai and Delhi and is awaiting government approvals. While Lufthansa is yet to make a formal announcement, the airline's winter time table shows that Frankfurt-Mumbai and Frankfurt-Delhi will be operated by Airbus A380 instead of Boeing 747 planes.

"We are pleased to say that in view of the growing demand we plan to introduce the A380 in Mumbai and Delhi subject to government approval. We have applied for permission and are hopeful of getting government approvals soon,'' said Lufthansa in a statement today.

MIAL had granted the only A380/B747-8 bay to Emirates in summer schedule turning down the demand from Lufthansa which wanted to fly its Boeing 747-8 in summer.

"We are creating more bays, which will address the issue in a period of 15 months from now,'' MIAL spokesperson had earlier said. It did not give fresh comment today. Delhi airport does not have a shortage of A380 bays and has infact nine bays which can handle the super jumbo plane.