Months after Emirates launched its operations from Calcutta, the city has topped in the country in buying the holiday package of the airline, Emirates Holidays.

“Calcutta has topped among all destinations in India in buying the package,” Nabil Sultan, senior vice-president (commercial operations, West Asia and Indian Ocean) of the airline said on Tuesday, during the launch of their new office in the city on the EM Bypass-Parama Island Connector.

The airline has sold more than 500 packages since April, with 128 packages having been sold in September alone. Emirates flights started taking off from the city in March.

“Calcuttans opting for Dubai as a holiday destination are increasing by the day. They are also buying packages for other destinations, like Mauritius, Seychelles, London, Paris, Cairo, Istanbul and South Africa,” said an official of the airline.

“Recently, a group of passengers from the city went to Tunisia, which is very surprising,” Sultan said. Onward Dubai, there are passengers to Zurich, Sydney, Melbourne, and Far East destinations like Beijing and Shanghai.

“The holiday package from Emirates is a new concept in Calcutta and has been accepted well. Passengers are buying packages for multiple destinations, too,” confirmed Anil Punjabi, chairman, Travel Agents Federation of India.

With Lufthansa starting direct flights between Calcutta and Frankfurt, Emirates faces a tough competition in catering to Europe or US-bound passengers from the city.

“Our focus will be different,” Sultan said, while replying to questions whether the airline is planning to lower its fares to Europe and the US. “We also fly to Australia, Africa and the Far East. In future, our main focus will be on these sectors, rather than on the European and US markets.”

Emirates is also planning to promote Calcutta’s health tourism potential in West Asia.

Among the private hospitals it plans to tie up with are AMRI, Apollo Gleneagles and Woodlands. “A team of doctors from West Asia will visit these hospitals by the end of this year,” Sultan said.