MUMBAI: A day after the governments of India and Dubai agreed to allow more flight operations between the two regions, India's aviation regulator has certified that Mumbai's airport is suitable for landing the Airbus A380 super jumbo jets, said a source close to the development.

Both moves will directly benefit middle-eastern carrier Emirates which aims to fly the world's biggest passenger plane to India, starting from the Mumbai airport. India and Dubai Wednesday agreed to enhance their weekly bilateral seat entitlements by 20 per cent to 65,200. carriers of both countries will be able to sell 11,000 extra seats by October next year.

The increase will be done in three phases—5,500 in April-October 2014; 3,300 in October-March 2014; 2,200 in April-October. Emirates should be able to deploy at least two flights per day of the super jumbo A380 without any reduction in its current flights to India immediately. By October 2015, it will be able to have four flights per week of the A380.

The plane can seat 850 passengers in an all-economy configuration, but those having a three-class configuration can accommodate between 550-600 passengers. Executives at Emirates have been saying the airline is keen to bring the A380 to India but it had already exhausted its air service rights. On Jan 27, the Indian government in-principle allowed airlines to operate the world's biggest passenger plane to four of India airports-—Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. In a letter to the Mumbai International Airport, the DGCA said it was now ready for Code-F operations.

International Civil Aviation Organisation rules say an airport has to have among other things a runway width of 60 meters to be Code F certified. Emirates flies 185 weekly flights to India, of which the highest number— 35—is to Mumbai. "If the airline doesn't get additional seat entitlements or doesn't get enough to fit additional A380 services, it may combine flights to operate the plane," said a person close to the development.