New Delhi: Dubai has been at the forefront of flights from various cities of India to foreign destinations in the month of May. Seven of the 20 busiest routes in terms of flights from India in May were to Dubai, according to aviation analyst firm Cerium. Three years ago in May 2019, only two of India’s top 20 international routes were to Dubai, according to Cerium data. According to the data available with PTI, flights operated from India to Dubai have increased rapidly in the last three years. Amey Joshi, an aviation analyst who runs Network Thoughts, a blog dedicated to the sector, said, “International air travel is guided by bilateral rights.
Emirates airline flights have returned to pre-pandemic levels in the case of Dubai, but this is not the case with other regions. Due to this, Dubai has reached the top in terms of international flights from India. Joshi said Emirates was one of the first airlines to be fully deployed on India’s routes. The airline was operating a large number of flights from India to the European Union, Russia, and North America. International flights were severely disrupted for nearly two years after the outbreak of the Kovid-19 pandemic in early 2020.
However, now the situation is returning to normal, and airlines around the world have resumed their international flights in a big way. According to Serium, the busiest international air travel route from India in May 2019 was Kolkata-Dhaka with 301 flights operating on it. But in May 2022, the busiest international route in India became Mumbai-Dubai with 406 flights. The second busiest international route in May 2022 was Delhi-Dubai with 332 flights.
Similarly, 167, 152, 136, 133, and 131 flights were operating on the Cochin-Dubai, Hyderabad-Dubai, Chennai-Dubai, Bengaluru-Dubai, and Calicut-Dubai routes respectively. These seven air routes to the major city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Dubai were among the top 20 international air travel routes connecting India in May 2022. Data shows that the third busiest route from India in May this year was Chennai-Colombo with 183 flights operating on it. The fourth busiest route was Cochin-Dubai with 167 flights.
