Emirates - The national airline of India

    Most major Indian commercial airlines have been dire financial state for the last few years. Air India cannot meaningfully utilize it's relatively new Boeing 777 long range fleet. Yet, it has a large order of 787's in the pipeline.With losses topping a billion dollars every year,it is not sure if it can pay for the new jets. The picture for private airlines is not rosy either. There are questions about the financial viability of Kingfisher .Jet airways has been struggling to turn consistent profits in recent quarters.

    Amidst all this, the rise of Emirates in India has been relentless.They have a large presence in most large Indian cities with multiple daily flights.

Emirates flies 185 weekly flights to 10 destinations in India using Boeing Co. 777-300 aircraft, according to a statement from the carrier in July. The carrier has said it wants to fly Airbus SAS’ A380 superjumbos to India as well.

    One analyst describes it this way:

In India, said Strickland, Emirates has become the de facto national airline. "They are where Air India would have been if it had been better managed," he said.
Clark said he expects a healthy traffic between Seattle-area software companies and the "silicon areas" of India where software is a big export.

    For Indians who hope to have a decent national airline , this may come as a disappointment. But is it really such a bad thing? I would say no. Commercial aviation is a tough business to be in. It is capital intensive and highly vulnerable to external factors like crude oil prices. At the best of times, profit margins can range in the low single digits. India would be well served to liberalize the civil aviation further and get out of the business of running airlines altogether. This is a domain better left to the private players to fight out.

   As long as the aviation business is regulated effectively for safety and transparency, passengers couldn't care less if it is a national or foreign carrier that they fly on their next trip.