Emirates to resume pre-COVID flights to India from April 1

International carrier Emirates has announced that from April 1, it will be reintroducing full, pre-COVID-19-level flight frequencies to all its destinations across India. The Dubai-based airline will be operating 170 flights weekly to nine Indian cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Bengaluru.

Emirates’ announcement comes after the Government of India decided to restore all international flights to and from Dubai from March-end this year, as per the established bilateral agreements, Gulf News reported.

The Civil Aviation Ministry on March 8 announced that it will resume regular international flight operations from March 27.

"After having recognized the increased vaccination coverage across the globe and in consultation with the stakeholders, the Government of India has decided to resume scheduled commercial international passenger services to/from India from 27.03.2022, i.e. start of Summer Schedule 2022. The suspension of scheduled commercial international passenger services to/from India, thus, stands extended only up to 2359 hrs IST on 26.03.2022 and air bubble arrangements shall accordingly be extended to this extent only," the ministry said in a statement.

Notably, Emirates has already brought back the daily Airbus A380 flights connecting Dubai and Mumbai this month. The airline operates 35 flights weekly to Mumbai, the highest to any destination in India, followed by 28 flights connecting Dubai to New Delhi weekly, 24 to Bengaluru, 21 to Chennai and Hyderabad, 14 to Kochi, 11 to Kolkata, and nine and seven to Ahmedabad and Thiruvananthapuram, respectively.