Emirates Triumphs as Leading Middle Eastern Carrier at Decade of Airline Excellence Awards

Emirates Airline has been recognised by the judges in the Decade of Airline Excellence Awards as the Middle East’s best-performing airline of the past 10 years. The carrier took the accolade in the Middle East region category of the Awards.

The full roster of awards, organised by FlightGlobal in association with Airline Business and Korn Ferry, are being announced over the 1-3 December.

Emirates Airline’s continued strength during the 2010-2019 period meant the judges recognised it as the region’s stand-out performer.

“While the Dubai carrier’s credentials were already firmly established going into the decade, it continued on its journey as a benchmark airline in terms of its customer service, brand reach and network, while its influence on key aircraft programmes endured,” said Lewis Harper, Managing Editor of Airline Business magazine.

The carrier’s consistency was partly driven by its stable leadership situation, with president Tim Clark continuing to helm the carrier throughout the decade. The period saw Emirates’ passenger numbers increase from 31 million in 2010 to nearly 59 million, with revenues doubling at the same time, as it delivered on its mission to connect the world over Dubai.

“It has an exciting network, and used the A380 to build up its hub operations - astonishing, none of us believed it was possible,” a judge observed of Emirate’s achievements with the Airbus superjumbo.

Despite being firmly against the alliance model, Emirates’ decade was also marked by important decisions to work more closely with other operators such as Qantas and Flydubai. The airline’s physical product also continued to be a strong selling point throughout the decade and in 2017 it introduced the world’s first fully-enclosed first-class private suites.

“Their product is outstanding and they are a true global connector,” a judge concludes.

The winning airlines from each global region, in addition to the overall winner, are being announced over the 1-3 December.

In addition to the winner from the Middle East, these include the winning airlines from Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America.

Full details of all winners will be available at: flightglobal.com