Emirates has revealed that it will not bid for India’s flagship carrier Air India, which was put up for sale by the Indian government.
Adel Ahmad Al Redha, chief operating officer of Emirates told the media during the recently held World Economic Forum in Davos that it will be too difficult for Emirates to enter the Indian aviation market and acquire Air India at the present time.
According to him, the number of trade rules and too much of restrictions prevent Emirates from doing so.
Chief Commercial Officer Adnan Kazim told the media, “The time you enter equities(overseas) you tend to go away from your home comfort zone that you have in terms of policies that you have and so many other things that today you have control over.”
He also revealed that Emirates’ focus is on its home market and it will not bid for Air India.
Recently, Emirates also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Trip.com group, one of the world’s leading one-stop travel service providers, to expand its wings in the Chinese market.
According to the deal, Emirates will leverage Trip.com’s strong presence in the Chinese market and expand its customer base. The carrier also plans to penetrate the Chinese market with exclusive fares and customised products for the customer base of Trip.com Group.
Last year the carrier announced that Emirates’ President Tim Clarke will step down from his position in June 2020. Clarke joined Emirates in 1985.
As of 2019, Emirates had 271 large aircraft, including 113 Airbus A380 superjumbos and 158 Boeing 777 planes at its disposal.
In November 2019, the airline signed a $16 billion deal for 50 Airbus A350-900 widebody aircraft.