No Navi Mumbai flights without additional traffic rights, says Emirates’ senior vice president

Emirates will consider operating flights from Navi Mumbai International Airport only if it secures additional traffic rights and seat entitlements under India’s bilateral air service agreements, a senior airline executive said on Wednesday, indicating that it has no immediate plans to shift its existing Mumbai operations to the new airport.

Essa Sulaiman Ahmad, senior vice-president for West Asia and Indian Ocean Commercial Operations at Emirates, said the airline’s existing rights do not automatically extend to a new airport, making additional entitlements a key condition for starting operations there.

“We do not have additional rights, part of our air service agreements and entitlements to operate into any new airport or any new destination,” Ahmad said. “So until and unless we get more additional flights and we get additional seat entitlements, then we will definitely look at airports or multiple new airports that have come up,” he added.

To be sure, Emirates is the largest international carrier operating from India, with 167 weekly flights, including 28 from Mumbai. The airline offers 67,000 weekly seats across nine Indian destinations, including Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kochi, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram and Ahmedabad.

His remarks come amid a proposal to shift 33% of international flights from Mumbai airport to Navi Mumbai International Airport from the summer schedule next year.

Asked whether Emirates would shift 33% of its flights to Navi Mumbai if such a proposal were implemented, Ahmad said the airline had not formulated a strategy and would continue operating from Mumbai airport for now.

“For the time being, we are still staying at Mumbai International Airport,” he said, adding that the airline would assess the new airport and its facilities before making a decision.

“When things like that happen, I think we also have to be a bit open-minded, see the airport, see what are the facilities that have been upgraded and all of that, and then we take that decision,” Ahmad said.

He reiterated that Emirates’ existing entitlements were linked to specific airports and did not automatically allow it to operate from a new facility.

“It’s a very airport-specific bilateral,” he said, adding that the entitlements were linked to individual airports.

Emirates, however, sees commercial potential in Navi Mumbai’s catchment area, particularly if it receives additional entitlements. Ahmad pointed to the airport’s proximity to Pune and its location near a seaport as factors that could make it attractive to the airline.

“For us, we always say if it’s an additional entitlement, absolutely, because that will be a new market again for us,” he said.

Ahmad also flagged the need for supporting infrastructure, including catering services and cargo warehousing, saying airlines would find it difficult to shift operations until the airport’s wider operational ecosystem was in place.

“Until it gets kind of fully built in the ecosystem, I think it’s going to be difficult for any of the airlines to shift there,” he said.

While welcoming India’s expanding airport infrastructure, Ahmad said Emirates remained open to discussions with the owners and operators of new airports.