We are not afraid of competition says Emirates

Emirates is yet to take a decision on adding extra flights to India and operating Airbus A380 in the summer schedule as the Dubai government is still to take a decision on allocating enhanced quota of 11,000 seats, senior airline executives said today.

Emirates flew in an Airbus A380 super jumbo to Hyderabad which also turned out to be main attraction at the opening day of the air show.

Last month India and Dubai governments agreed to increase the seat entitlements by an additional 11,000 over the existing 54,200 seats.

"We have lived with competition and grown in a market where there is no protectionism. There are 150 airlines which fly to Dubai,'' airline's divisional senior vice president Sheikh Majid Al Maulla said responding to query on competition from Jet Airways-Etihad alliance and Qatar Airways.

"We are not looking at short term and have our growth plans,'' he added. Emirates is world's largest operator of Airbus A380s and Boeing 777s.

He said Emirates was looking atleast additional 30,000 seats to India which would enable the airline to introduce Airbus A380s and replace Airbus A330s on certain routes with Boeing777. The airline is phasing out its Airbus A330s and A340s over next two years and fears that it may have to cut down on its India operations in case additional seats are granted. It flies 185 flights per week to India now.

Emirates reported 15% network wide growth in passenger and revenue but growth in India has been lower as its capacity to India did not increase since 2009.