The race to capture India’s booming aviation market is entering a new phase as Emirates joins a growing line-up of global carriers, including Turkish Airlines, Etihad Airways, British Airways, SAS, Air Astana, Wizz Air and others, in significantly expanding services to the country. From new widebody deployments and additional frequencies to fresh routes connecting Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia with Indian megacities and emerging regional hubs, this latest wave of capacity is set to transform international connectivity to Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and an expanding constellation of second tier cities.

A New Chapter in Gulf and Global Connectivity to India

India has rapidly become one of the most hotly contested aviation markets in the world, driven by a fast-growing middle class, a large and globally dispersed diaspora, and the steady rise of business and leisure travel. International airlines are responding with ambitious growth strategies that position Indian cities as pivotal nodes in their global networks. Gulf carriers in particular, long reliant on India as a core market, are now recalibrating their capacity with upgraded aircraft, additional gateways and denser schedules timed for global connections.

Emirates, the largest foreign carrier in India by capacity, has been engaged in a steady build-up across key metros, particularly Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, using its Dubai hub to funnel traffic between India and Europe, North America, Africa and Australasia. While bilateral limits continue to cap the scale of new services, the airline has focused on optimizing its schedule patterns, deploying high-capacity aircraft such as the Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 on trunk routes, and tightening connections through Dubai to shorten overall journey times for Indian travelers.

The strategic intent is clear. With India now ranking among the world’s largest aviation markets and forecast to grow significantly over the next decade, foreign carriers see today’s investments in capacity, product and brand as a race for long-term relevance. The emergence of new infrastructure in India, including a second major international airport for Mumbai, further underscores why airlines are moving quickly to secure and deepen their presence.

Etihad and Emirates: Gulf Heavyweights Double Down on India

Among the Gulf carriers, Etihad Airways has been especially vocal about India’s central role in its growth plans. The airline entered 2024 by adding new daily services from Abu Dhabi to Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram, expanding its Indian network to 10 gateways and later to 11 as additional points were introduced. These moves have helped cement Etihad’s position as a key one-stop option for travelers from smaller Indian cities heading to Europe, the Middle East and North America via Abu Dhabi.

By September 2024, Etihad marked two decades of flying to India, highlighting that it operates 176 flights a week to 11 Indian destinations and has carried more than 26 million passengers between India and Abu Dhabi since its first services to Mumbai and Delhi in 2004. The carrier has leveraged this anniversary to showcase enhanced capacity and premium product offerings, including the deployment of its flagship Airbus A380 on the Mumbai route for a four month period and the introduction of advanced Airbus A321LR aircraft on selected India services, such as the Abu Dhabi to Kolkata route, bringing widebody comfort to narrowbody operations.

Emirates, for its part, continues to anchor its India strategy around the three megacities of Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru while maintaining a broad presence in other high demand markets. Its long-standing hub and spoke model from Dubai is being fine tuned to address changing passenger flows, particularly the rise in premium and corporate travel from India’s technology and financial hubs. By flexing capacity with larger aircraft on key rotations and adjusting timings to align with transatlantic and European banks of departures from Dubai, Emirates is positioning itself as a seamless bridge between India and long haul destinations that remain underserved by nonstop Indian services.

European network carriers are likewise sharpening their focus on India. British Airways, which is celebrating a century of flying to the country, announced an additional daily service between Delhi and London Heathrow from April 2025. This raises the airline’s India schedule to 63 flights a week across five cities, including triple daily from Mumbai, double daily from Delhi and daily flights from Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai.

The expansion reflects sustained premium and business travel demand on the India United Kingdom corridor, as well as strong point to point traffic between India and London, one of the world’s busiest long haul city pairs. By adding a third daily Delhi service operated by modern Boeing 787 aircraft, British Airways is offering more choice in departure times and better onward connectivity across its extensive network of over 200 destinations out of Heathrow.

Further north, Scandinavian carrier SAS is reentering the Indian market with a landmark route between Copenhagen and Mumbai. After a 17 year absence from India, SAS has scheduled the new nonstop service to launch in June 2026, operating five times weekly with Airbus A330 300 aircraft. The route reestablishes direct air links between Scandinavia and India’s financial capital, trimming hours off traditional one stop journeys via hubs like Frankfurt or London and creating a new gateway for Nordic, Baltic and North American travelers heading to western India.

For Mumbai, the SAS and British Airways expansions add to the city’s growing status as a preferred entry point into India for European carriers, complementing existing connectivity while diversifying hubs and options available to travelers. Together with new infrastructure developments, these services are expected to support both corporate travel and inbound tourism to India’s west coast.

Turkish Airlines, Air Astana and Wizz Air: New Hub Pathways via Istanbul, Almaty and the Gulf

Beyond the Gulf and traditional European gateways, other carriers are building India focused strategies around emerging hubs. Turkish Airlines, already one of the world’s most globally connected carriers by number of destinations, has progressively deepened its presence in India from its powerful Istanbul base. By offering one stop connections between multiple Indian cities and an extensive network in Europe, North America, Africa and Central Asia, the airline positions Istanbul as an attractive alternative to more congested hubs.

In Central Asia, Air Astana is celebrating 20 years of operations to India with a significant service boost. The Kazakh flag carrier already operates regular flights between Almaty and Delhi, and is now adding a new route between Almaty and Mumbai from April 2025. The Mumbai service is scheduled three times weekly using Airbus aircraft, creating a fresh north central transit option for Indian travelers heading to Kazakhstan, Russia, the Caucasus and parts of Europe. For India, this adds another dimension of connectivity to a region historically served via Moscow or the Gulf.

Low cost operator Wizz Air, while primarily focused on European markets, has also figured into the broader narrative of budget connectivity between the Gulf and key international destinations. Its Abu Dhabi joint venture initially helped introduce ultra low fare options for travelers transiting between the Middle East and India via secondary points. However, strategic realignments and the eventual wind down of Abu Dhabi operations highlight the volatility of budget long haul models in a market where regulatory constraints, engine issues and geopolitical factors can weigh heavily on route economics.

Taken together, these developments show that India is no longer linked to the world through just a handful of traditional hubs. Istanbul, Almaty, Copenhagen, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and London are all vying to become preferred transit points for various customer segments and geographies, offering Indian passengers a more competitive, and in many cases more affordable, set of choices.

Inside India’s Aviation Boom: Why Airlines Are Rushing In

The flurry of new routes and capacity increases is rooted in a fundamental shift in India’s aviation landscape. Over the past decade, the number of operational airports in the country has more than doubled, and India has emerged as the third largest air transport market globally. Passenger numbers have surged, with hundreds of millions of domestic and international journeys recorded annually and robust projections for further growth.

The inauguration of major infrastructure such as Navi Mumbai International Airport, which is designed to relieve congestion at the main Mumbai airport and eventually handle tens of millions of passengers per year, signals that India is preparing for a long term surge in aviation demand. As new terminals and runways come online in Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and other cities, slot constraints are gradually easing and capacity for both domestic and foreign carriers is set to expand.

At the same time, economic factors are firmly in India’s favor. A young demographic profile, rising disposable incomes and the rapid expansion of service industries from information technology to finance are generating sustained demand for business and leisure travel. The Indian diaspora, one of the largest in the world, has deep ties to the Gulf, Europe, North America and Australia, ensuring structural demand for frequent and often price sensitive international flights.

For airlines like Emirates, Etihad, Turkish Airlines and British Airways, the Indian market offers a combination of scale and diversity that is difficult to replicate elsewhere. It encompasses everything from high yield corporate traffic out of Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru to price sensitive visiting friends and relatives passengers traveling from smaller cities in Kerala, Rajasthan or West Bengal. Designing networks that profitably serve this spectrum of demand is a key strategic challenge and a powerful incentive for continued expansion.

What This Means for Travelers: More Choice, Better Schedules, Sharper Fares

For international travelers to and from India, the cumulative effect of these developments is more choice and, in many cases, better value. Additional frequencies on core routes like Delhi London and Mumbai Abu Dhabi translate into more departure and arrival time options, which can be crucial for business travelers and those making tight onward connections. The use of widebody aircraft on routes that were previously served only by smaller jets also improves onboard comfort, baggage allowances and in flight amenities.

The growth of new hub pathways, such as Almaty for Air Astana or Copenhagen for SAS, introduces alternative itineraries that can reduce travel times for specific origin and destination pairs. Scandinavian passengers traveling to Mumbai, for instance, will soon be able to bypass traditional Western European hubs, while Indian travelers heading to Central Asia or certain parts of Europe may find Almaty connections more convenient than routing through the Gulf.

Price competition is another likely benefit. As more carriers vie for the same traffic flows between India and major global regions, promotional fares and tactical discounts are already becoming more common. Gulf and European airlines regularly roll out limited time offers tied to new route launches or anniversaries, while Indian and regional carriers respond with aggressive sales of their own. For leisure travelers and visiting friends and relatives passengers, these dynamics translate into more affordable access to international travel.

However, the increased complexity of options means that travelers must navigate a more intricate web of schedules, connection times and product standards. In this environment, the reputations of hubs and carriers for reliability, ease of transit, and quality of service will matter as much as headline ticket prices in shaping traveler preferences.

Challenges Ahead: Bilateral Limits, Infrastructure Strain and Market Volatility

Despite the surge in activity, the expansion into India is not without challenges. Bilateral air service agreements continue to restrict the number of flights and seats foreign carriers can operate into India’s major cities, particularly for Gulf airlines. This has pushed many carriers to concentrate capacity within existing limits by using larger aircraft or consolidating services, rather than opening entirely new routes at the scale they might prefer.

Infrastructure, too, remains a work in progress. Although new airports and terminals are coming online, several existing facilities continue to face congestion, air traffic management constraints and slot pressures during peak hours. These factors can lead to delays that ripple across interconnected global networks, undermining the very connectivity advantages carriers are seeking to promote.

Market volatility adds another layer of uncertainty. Currency fluctuations, fuel price movements and shifting geopolitical risks can quickly alter the economics of long haul services to and from India. Low cost long haul experiments, such as those involving ultra low fare models operating out of Gulf hubs, have already demonstrated how quickly such ventures can be scaled back or restructured when conditions become unfavorable.

For India, a careful balance must be struck between supporting national carriers and allowing foreign airlines to expand in a way that benefits travelers and the broader economy. For the airlines themselves, success will depend on maintaining operational resilience, managing cost pressures and staying agile in network planning as new competitors and capacities enter the field.

The Road Ahead: A Denser, More Global Network for Indian Cities

As Emirates and its peers elevate their India strategies, the country’s major urban centers are being woven more tightly into the global air transport network. Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, already among the most internationally connected cities in the region, are likely to see further gains in nonstop and one stop options to key global markets in the coming years. Secondary cities will also benefit as carriers like Etihad, Air Astana and others continue to explore new gateways beyond the big three metros.

For business leaders, the evolution of air links translates into easier access to investment opportunities, supply chains and talent pools that stretch from North America and Europe to Central Asia and the Middle East. For tourists, it opens more seamless paths to India’s cultural, natural and culinary attractions, while giving Indian travelers a broader canvas of international destinations reachable with a single connection.

Ultimately, the current wave of airline expansion into India represents more than just additional flights. It signals a structural shift in the geography of global aviation, with Indian cities increasingly positioned as indispensable junctions in worldwide travel flows. As Emirates joins Turkish Airlines, Etihad, British Airways, SAS, Air Astana, Wizz Air and other industry leaders in scaling up their presence, the skies above India are set to become busier, more competitive and more connected than ever before.