Emirates Reportedly Considering Partnership With Air India

The airline gets a massive chunk of its traffic from India.

Emirates Airbus A380 — Photo: VanderWolf Images / Shutterstock

Air India’s transformation and future fleet expansion program are expected to turn it into a formidable force as an international airline operating out of India. While it is still the number one airline operating overseas flights out of the country, a significant chunk of that market also goes to carriers based in the Middle East. Now, a report suggests that Emirates is eyeing a deal with Air India for codeshare flights.

Early-stage talks

Emirates is reportedly keen on joining forces with Air India to cater to the ever-increasing international passenger traffic out of the country. Mint quotes Mohammad Sarhan, vice president India and Nepal Emirates, from an interview in which he said that the airline is in early-stage talks with Air India. But it remains to be seen how it evolves over time as Air India is currently busy with its merger with Vistara. Any substantial talk on a partnership with Emirates will likely occur after that.

Photo: Wirestock Creators / Shutterstock

Air India and Emirates are direct competitors, with both targeting Indian passengers flying to major destinations in Europe and North America. A partnership between the two is not something that comes to mind naturally. But Mint quotes Sarhan as saying,

“You know, earlier, United and Emirates were rivals and now they are best of friends. We just signed a codeshare. Air Canada used to be a challenge for us. Now we are best friends. I think sooner or later we will be very close to some Indian carriers.”

Indeed, Air Canada’s partnership with Emirates has allowed it to reach secondary cities in India already served by Emirates. But it remains to be seen how Air India will view a partnership with Emirates and what could possibly be on the table for a union like this.

Looking for a premium carrier partnership

Emirates has interline agreements with many Indian carriers. It also tried its hand at a codeshare partnership with SpiceJet, but for various reasons, including the COVID pandemic, it did not materialize.

Photo: Airbus

The airline is ideally looking for a full-service airline for partnership, which in India is only offered by Air India and Vistara. Sarhan added,

“The best way forward (for Emirates) is (partnership) with a premium carrier. We do have interline with almost all Indian carriers, but it is not as good as codeshare, that will have one ticket, one fare, same baggage allowance, same service, and it is more consistent. We maximize the routes, we sell on that airline, that airline sells on us, we feed into them and they feed into us.”

Vying for the Indian passenger

Emirates is the third-largest carrier operating international flights out of India; Air India and IndiGo take the first two spots. Over the years, Air India’s stunted growth and mismanagement did not allow it to explore its international options properly.

Photo: Komenton/Shutterstock

But the airline is determined to change that in the next few years and is investing heavily in widebody planes and onboard products to compete with the best in the world. At the moment, talks of a potential partnership with Emirates are only in their nascent stage. We’ll have to wait for some time to see how it progresses further.

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Source: Mint