The Mumbai-Dubai sector was the busiest international city pair for travel to and from India last year, with as many as 1.75 million people flying between these two cities, closely followed by 1.36 million between Delhi and Dubai, a report said.

Dubai saw 8.45 million people flying to and from India last year, way ahead of the second spot of almost 4.4 million occupied by UAE — of which it is a part. London (UK), Bangkok (Thailand), Singapore and Kathmandu (Nepal) were the other major destinations or transit points for Indian globetrotters last year, a report in The Times of India said.

India is an important market for all airlines as international travel has been constantly growing in the past few years. Around 450,000 people flew between Sharjah and Kochi last year; Trivandrum and Dubai saw 470,000 people flying between them last year; Pune, Varanasi and Amritsar also saw substantial numbers flying to overseas destinations in 2014.

Dubai's dominance comes from the fact that its airline, Emirates, rules Indian skies and is the third largest carrier in India in terms of international market share. All Indian carriers that fly abroad — Jet Airways, Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet — also fly to Dubai. While they offer only point-to-point connectivity between India and Dubai, Emirates offers connectivity to rest of the world for Indian flyers from its hub.

"Star Alliance accepted Air India into its fold mainly to counter the onslaught of Gulf carriers. Emirates is already known as the de facto national airline of India. Abu Dhabi-based Etihad's tie-up with Jet Airways means that Jet will feed that hub from 23 cities in India. Together, Gulf carriers pose the biggest challenge not only for Indian carriers but also other airlines that fly into India," an airline official was quoted as saying.

With Jet going the Gulf way, Indian aviation has pinned its hopes on Air India weaning away long-haul traffic from them with its new-found Star Alliance membership and the joint venture between Tatas and Singapore Airlines, Vistara.