Emirates (airline)

Emirates is one of the two flag carriers of the United Arab Emirates. Based in Garhoud, Dubai, the airline is a subsidiary of The Emirates Group, which is owned by the government of Dubai's Investment Corporation of Dubai. It is the world's largest long haul airline as well as the largest airline in the Middle East, operating more than 3,600 flights per week from its hub at Terminal 3 of Dubai International Airport. It operates in more than 150 cities in 80 countries across six continents on its fleet of over 250 aircraft. Cargo operations are undertaken by Emirates SkyCargo.
Emirates is the world's third-largest airline by scheduled revenue passenger-kilometers flown. It is also the second-largest in terms of freight tonne-kilometers flown.
During the mid 1980s, Gulf Air began to cut back its services to Dubai. As a result, Emirates was founded on 15 March 1985, with backing from Dubai's royal family and its first two aircraft provided by Pakistan International Airlines. With $10 million in start-up capital, it was required to operate independently of government subsidies. Pakistan International Airlines also provided free training facilities to Emirates cabin crew at Karachi Airport. The airline was founded by Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the airline's present chairman. In the years following its founding, the airline rapidly expanded both its fleet and its destinations. In October 2008, Emirates moved all of its operations at Dubai International Airport to Terminal 3.
Emirates operates a mixed fleet of Airbus and Boeing wide-body aircraft and is one of the few airlines to operate an all-wide-body aircraft fleet., Emirates is the world's largest Airbus A380 operator with 116 aircraft in service. Since its introduction, the Airbus A380 has become an integral part of the Emirates fleet, especially on long-haul, high-density routes. Emirates is also the world's largest Boeing 777 operator with 133 aircraft in service.

History

Emirates was founded in March 1985 with backing from Dubai's ruler, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
On 25 October 1985, Emirates operated its first flight from Dubai International Airport to Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan using an Airbus A300B4-200, registered AP-BBM. Later a second flight departed Dubai for Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai, India, using a Boeing 737-300, registered AP-BCD, both wet-leased from Pakistan International Airlines. In 1986, Emirates added Ratmalana Airport, Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, Queen Alia International Airport and Cairo International Airport to its route network.
On 3 July 1987, A6-EKA flew from Toulouse–Blagnac Airport to Dubai as Emirates took delivery of its first owned aircraft, an Airbus A310-304. Flights to Frankfurt Airport commenced via Atatürk Airport, London Gatwick and Male International Airport. This was followed by Changi Airport, Bangkok airport and Hong Kong International Airport.
During its early years, Emirates experienced strong growth, averaging 30% annually. The Gulf War helped boost business for the airline as it was the only airline to continue flying in the last ten days of the war. In June 1991 shortly after the end of the hostilities caused by the Gulf War, Emirates finally managed to acquire slots at London Heathrow. In 1996, Emirates took delivery of its baseline Boeing 777-200, followed by the extended-range version in 1997 and in 1999 the Airbus A330-200 and Boeing 777-300. In 2000, the airline placed an order for a large number of aircraft, including the Boeing 777-300ER and the Airbus A380, and also launched its frequent flyer program, Skywards.
Since then, the airline has continued to expand its fleet and network, with a focus on operating flights to anywhere in the world via Dubai and competing with other major airlines on international routes. Its growth has attracted criticism from other carriers, who claim that the airline has unfair advantages and have called for an end to open-skies policies with the UAE as a result. In 2017, Emirates "renewed its aircraft buying spree" and agreed to buy a number of Boeing's 787 Dreamliners for $15.1 billion. The Wall Street Journal described the deal as a "painful loss" for Airbus. In 2023, Emirates ordered $50 billion of Boeing jets with their sister airline, flyDubai at the Dubai Airshow. Emirates ordered 90 aircraft, including both versions of the new long-haul jet.
In April 2024, Emirates announced its plan to relocate its hub to Al Maktoum Airport when the new airport is fully completed.

Corporate management

The airline is a subsidiary of The Emirates Group, which is a subsidiary of the Dubai government's investment company, Investment Corporation of Dubai. The airline has recorded a profit every year, except its second year, and the growth has never fallen below 20% a year. In its first 11 years, it doubled in size every 3.5 years and has every four years since.
In 2015, Emirates paid dividends worth AED 2.6 billion, compared to AED 1 billion in 2014. The government has received AED 14.6 billion from Emirates since dividends started being paid in 1999 for having provided an initial start-up capital of US$10 million and an additional investment of about US$80 million at the time of the airline's inception. The Dubai government is the sole owner of the company, but it does not invest any new money into it or interfere with the airline's operations.

Structure and employment

Emirates has diversified into related industries and sectors, including airport services, engineering, catering, and tour operator operations. Emirates has seven subsidiaries and its parent company has more than 50. At the end of the fiscal year on 31 March 2020, the company employed a total of 59,519 staff, of which 21,789 were cabin crew, 4,313 were flight deck crew, 3,316 were in engineering, 12,627 were listed as other, 5,376 employees were at overseas stations, and 12,098 were at subsidiary companies. The Emirates Group employed a total of 105,730 employees.
Emirates provides its employees with benefits such as comprehensive health plans and paid maternity and sick leave. Another strategy employed by Emirates is to use profit sharing and merit pay as part of its competency-based approach to performance management. In 2023 and 2024, the group awarded its employees hefty bonuses as their share of the company's profits earned in those years. In 2023, employees got 24 weeks of pay as their bonus, and in 2024, they received 20 weeks of pay. In 2025, Emirates Group awarded its employees a 22-week bonus following a record-breaking profit of AED 22.7 billion—an 18% increase over the prior year.

Environmental record

The airline claims to have lower emissions than other airlines because its fleet has an average fuel burn of fewer than 4 liters for every 100 passenger–kilometers. In 2023, the airline announced it would invest $200 million over three years to fund research and development regarding the reduction of fossil fuels in commercial aviation, including investing in the development of alternative fuel and energy solutions.

Business trends

The key trends for Emirates are :

	Turnover	Net profit	Passengers flown	Passenger load factor	Cargo carried	Number of A380	Sources
1998	4.0	0.26	3.6	70.0	200	—
1999	4.4	0.31	4.2	74.5	214	—
2000	5.1	0.30	4.7	71.9	269	—
2001	6.3	0.42	5.7	75.1	335	—
2002	7.1	0.46	6.7	74.3	401	—
2003	9.5	0.90	8.5	76.6	525	—
2004	13.1	1.5	10.4	73.4	660	—
2005	17.9	2.4	12.5	74.6	838	—
2006	22.6	2.4	14.4	75.9	1,019	—
2007	29.1	3.0	17.5	76.2	1,156	—
2008	38.8	5.0	21.2	79.8	1,282	—
2009	43.2	0.68	22.7	75.8	1,408	4
2010	43.4	3.5	27.4	78.1	1,580	8
2011	54.2	5.3	31.4	80.0	1,767	15
2012	62.2	1.5	33.9	80.0	1,796	21
2013	73.1	2.2	39.3	79.7	2,086	31
2014	82.6	3.2	44.5	79.4	2,250	47
2015	88.8	4.5	49.2	79.6	2,377	59
2016	85.0	7.1	51.8	76.5	2,509	75
2017	85.0	1.2	56.0	75.1	2,577	94
2018	92.3	2.7	58.4	77.5	2,623	102
2019	97.9	0.87	58.6	76.8	2,659	109
2020	91.9	1.0	56.1	78.5	2,389	115
2021	30.9	−20.2	6.5	44.3	1,873	113
2022	59.1	−3.9	19.5	58.6	2,139	118
2023	107	10.5	43.6	79.5	1,849	116
2024	121	17.2	51.9	79.9	2,176	116
2025	127	19.0	53.6	78.9	2,338	116