Chennai, Oct 13: Emirates Skycargo expects its business from India to grow considerably in the current fiscal pinning high hopes on garments and perishables. "The weekly Boeing 747 freighters we have introduced to the highly potential destinations of Chennai and Bangalore this year have started paying good dividends", Prakash Nair, marketing manager, Emirates Skycargo, told a news agency.

He said, at present, cargo business contributes 19.6 per cent of the total revenues of Emirates with the airlines handling 5,25,188 tonnes last year. This was expected to grow at least by 30 per cent this year, he added. "From India we are mainly focussing on flowers, vegetables and garments," he said adding the state-of-the-art international flower transhipment centre scheduled to be commissioned in Dubai in November next year would go a long way in boosting the business of Emirates Skycargo.

He said the airlines had already started operating freighters to New York and would also introduce passenger flights to that city next year.

Emirates currently operates 42 non-stop flights between Dubai and India weekly -- 18 flights to Mumbai, seven to Delhi, four to Chennai, eight to Hyderabad and five to Kochi. Bureau Report