Emirates marks one of its busiest summers ever

Emirates has marked one of its busiest summers ever, carrying over 14 million passengers with average seat load factors exceeding 80% across its global network between June and August.

Looking at the coming months, Emirates’ booking trends show unabated demand for international travel across its network. Destination Dubai remained popular amongst travellers, even during the summer months with two million customers traveling to the airline’s hub to enjoy its year-round attractions and events, an announcement for the airline said.

Top inbound markets to Dubai on Emirates during this period included the UK, India, Germany, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, China, Egypt and Kuwait. Over 35% of visitors to Dubai travelling on Emirates were families, staying an average of over two weeks to experience the city’s incredible sites and attractions.

This winter season, the airline anticipates another spike in demand for travel to Dubai as the city runs a packed calendar of global conferences, world-class sporting events, and more. The city has already welcomed more than 8.5 million international visitors in the first six months of 2023, registering more than a million more visitors during the same time last year.

Adnan Kazim, Chief Commercial Officer, Emirates commented, “Travel demand across our network has been strong and resilient despite rising cost-of-living pressures in many markets. It shows the value that people place on travel – whether for work, play, study, or visiting loved ones; and how essential international air connectivity is to communities.”

He added, “As an early mover in restoring our flying schedules, Emirates worked closely with our industry partners to ensure our readiness to serve customer demand as well as attract visitors through building on the appeal of our home and hub, Dubai. We’re happy to see strong customer preference for our product in all cabin classes, especially in our premium cabins. Emirates will continue to ensure we are delivering the best value for money to our customers, by investing in our products, services, and in operating an efficient global network.”

From June to August, Emirates operated nearly 50,000 flights to and from 140 cities, carrying over 14 million passengers.

Thanks to its 157 airline and rail partners, Emirates offers travellers convenient and extended access beyond its own global network, to over 800 cities in 100 countries, the announcement noted.

This summer, meanwhile, Emirates also launched daily flights to a new destination to its network – Montreal, Canada and layered on additional flights to serve summer demand to 12 cities namely Athens, Brisbane, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Amsterdam, Budapest, Bologna, Medina, Jeddah, Entebbe, Venice and Shanghai.

In addition, the airline brought back daily A380 services to Birmingham, Nice, Taipei, and Shanghai, introduced a new A380 service to Bali, becoming the first operation of its kind in Indonesia, and introduced its latest 4-class A380 aircraft offering Premium Economy seats to Singapore, Los Angeles and Houston.

The airline also announced new interline and expanded codeshare arrangements with Kenya Airways, Air Canada, and Philippine Airlines.