Agencies
September 9: Emirates Airline, currently expanding its presence in India’s booming and economically strong southern region, is gearing up for the launch of its eight-flights-a-week service to Bangalore, starting 29th October.
At present, Emirates serves South India with 31 weekly flights to Chennai, Hyderabad, Cochin and Thiruvananthapuram, offering over 8000 seats and 500 tonnes of cargo capacity.
An Emirates delegation, led by Nabil Sultan, Senior Vice President Commercial Operations West Asia & Indian Ocean, and comprising representatives of various brands under the Emirates umbrella, is currently in Bangalore to introduce the Dubai-based airline’s award-winning product and service to 400 travel and cargo agents.
“Emirates teams in Bangalore and Dubai are working round the clock to ensure a smooth and seamless start of our local operations,” said Nabil Sultan. “The new route promises to open up a world of opportunities for Bangalore’s key industries – Information Technology, Biotechnology and Tourism - as Emirates links the city to 13, 14 and 20 new gateways in the Middle East, Africa and Europe through 150, 82 and 211 weekly flights respectively.”
The undisputed IT nerve-centre of Asia, Bangalore, is home to more than 1600 tech firms, including international heavyweights IBM, Intel, Cisco, Sun Microsystems, Compaq, Accenture, and Indian IT majors Infosys, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services and Microland.
According to statistics released by Software Technology Parks of India, Bangalore clocked export revenues of USD 1.6 billion in the five months to August 2006, with exports to Europe and North America growing consistently at 20 per cent.
Nabil added: “To Bangalore, we will operate some of the world’s most technologically advanced aircraft - the modern Airbus A330-200 and the larger capacity Boeing 777-200 - in a three class configuration, ensuring every passenger in every cabin enjoys unprecedented comfort, luxury, service and attention.”
Emirates’ First Class offers spacious sleeper seats set in a 2-2-2 configuration and separated by wide aisles; discreet and attentive service owing to four cabin crew allocated exclusively to First Class; seven-course meals individually prepared by master chefs and accompanied by an extensive range of wines carefully selected by our sommeliers.
Emirates’ Business Class provides a host of amenities so that passengers whether they need to work or choose to relax, arrive refreshed and ready for business. Those wishing to work will benefit from the personal satellite telephone fitted in each seat; provision to send and receive email and sms from each seat for just USD1 a time; and laptop computer recharging facility. These facilities are also provided in other classes.
“At Dubai and other selected destinations such as New York (JFK), London Heathrow, London Gatwick and Frankfurt to name a few, our First and Business class passengers can avail of the complimentary chauffeur-drive airport transfer to and from their doorstep,” added Nabil. “Premium passengers, even those travelling on code-share flights operated by other carriers are eligible for this service, provided the booking is made on Emirates.”
Emirates’ Economy Class has been redesigned to make cabins quieter and more restful, with wider and more comfortable seats, each equipped with a 6.5-inch personal video screen with ‘touch’ controls. Up to 22 audio and 18 video channels are available.