Emirates Airline used the sidelines of the World Governments Summit in Dubai on 8 February 2026 to press its case for a larger share of the India-UAE market. Speaking to reporters, Chief Commercial Officer Adnan Kazim confirmed that the carrier is in “advanced” government-to-government talks aimed at lifting the seat cap that has remained unchanged since the 2014 bilateral air-services agreement. At present just 66,000 weekly seats are available to each side; Emirates alone says it could fill an additional 50,000 seats per week based on current load-factors.(m.economictimes.com)
India is the Dubai carrier’s single-largest origin-and-destination market, feeding both leisure traffic to the Gulf and onward connections to the Americas and Europe. Capacity constraints over the northern winter forced Emirates to keep fares high and turn away group bookings; corporate‐travel managers in the UAE report that last-minute economy tickets to Mumbai regularly top AED 2,800 (US $760). By contrast, Etihad and Air India were able to add seats via Abu Dhabi under separate special-dispensation agreements, highlighting the distortion the current cap is creating.(m.economictimes.com)
![Emirates Seeks Expansion of India-UAE Flight Quota as Demand Soars]()
In the meantime, businesses and individual travelers looking to take advantage of any future surge in flight availability can simplify the paperwork side of their trips with VisaHQ. The platform (https://www.visahq.com/united-arab-emirates/) provides step-by-step guidance for UAE tourist and business visas, offers real-time application tracking, and supports bulk processing for corporate groups—ensuring that newly booked seats don’t go empty because of last-minute visa snags.
If the negotiations succeed, analysts expect a phased increase tied to specific Indian gateway airports, with a focus on second-tier cities such as Jaipur and Coimbatore that lack Gulf connectivity. Additional rights would also help the UAE absorb the 12-per-cent annual growth in Indian outbound travel forecast by the UNWTO between now and 2030. For UAE-based multinationals, more frequencies translate directly into better duty-of-care options and reduced travel budgets at a time when India has become their fastest-growing source of regional project talent.
Mobility managers should begin scenario-planning now: a larger bilateral quota would likely trigger aggressive promotional fares in the shoulder season (April-May), followed by a restructuring of corporate-contract inventories. Companies that rely on Indian short-term assignees should also watch for an acceleration of UAE residence-visa applications as additional flights make weekly commuting more feasible. Finally, talent teams may need to refresh their relocation policies to take advantage of new spoke routes that could connect mid-sized Indian engineering hubs directly with Dubai or Sharjah.
India is the Dubai carrier’s single-largest origin-and-destination market, feeding both leisure traffic to the Gulf and onward connections to the Americas and Europe. Capacity constraints over the northern winter forced Emirates to keep fares high and turn away group bookings; corporate‐travel managers in the UAE report that last-minute economy tickets to Mumbai regularly top AED 2,800 (US $760). By contrast, Etihad and Air India were able to add seats via Abu Dhabi under separate special-dispensation agreements, highlighting the distortion the current cap is creating.(m.economictimes.com)
In the meantime, businesses and individual travelers looking to take advantage of any future surge in flight availability can simplify the paperwork side of their trips with VisaHQ. The platform (https://www.visahq.com/united-arab-emirates/) provides step-by-step guidance for UAE tourist and business visas, offers real-time application tracking, and supports bulk processing for corporate groups—ensuring that newly booked seats don’t go empty because of last-minute visa snags.
If the negotiations succeed, analysts expect a phased increase tied to specific Indian gateway airports, with a focus on second-tier cities such as Jaipur and Coimbatore that lack Gulf connectivity. Additional rights would also help the UAE absorb the 12-per-cent annual growth in Indian outbound travel forecast by the UNWTO between now and 2030. For UAE-based multinationals, more frequencies translate directly into better duty-of-care options and reduced travel budgets at a time when India has become their fastest-growing source of regional project talent.
Mobility managers should begin scenario-planning now: a larger bilateral quota would likely trigger aggressive promotional fares in the shoulder season (April-May), followed by a restructuring of corporate-contract inventories. Companies that rely on Indian short-term assignees should also watch for an acceleration of UAE residence-visa applications as additional flights make weekly commuting more feasible. Finally, talent teams may need to refresh their relocation policies to take advantage of new spoke routes that could connect mid-sized Indian engineering hubs directly with Dubai or Sharjah.
