After signing the historic order, Emirates is reportedly eyeing a deal with Air India for codeshare flights to meet the rising customer demands. In a recent interview to the Mint, Mohammad Sarhan, vice president India and Nepal, Emirates confirmed that the airline is in early stage talks with Air India.
“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,” Sarhan said.
However currently Air India is busy with Vistara merger, along with mass recruitment, so experts are of the opinion that any solid steps firming the Emirates-Air India codeshare will only happen after that.
Emirates 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.”