Emirates is one of the two flag carrier airlines of the United Arab Emirates (the other being Etihad Airways). Based in Al 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 $10million 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 (excluding Emirates Executive). , 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.
The airline has received several awards, including of "Best Overall Airline in the Middle East" at the 2026 APEX Awards.
History
Emirates was founded in March 1985 with backing from Dubai's ruler, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
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 $15.1billion. The Wall Street Journal described the deal as a "painful loss" for Airbus. In 2023, Emirates ordered $50billion 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 (DWC) when the new airport is fully completed. In 2026, Emirates temporarily suspended operations due to the Iran War.
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 2.6billion (US$708million), compared to AED 1billion (US$272million) in 2014. The government has received AED 14.6billion from Emirates since dividends started being paid in 1999 for having provided an initial start-up capital of US$10million and an additional investment of about US$80million at the time of the airline's inception.The Sunday Times (Emirates boss heads for bigger goals), Times Newspapers Ltd., London, 23 July 2006 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 22.7billion—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 $200million 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 (as of the financial year ending 31 March):
Turnover(AED b)Net profit(AED b)Passengersflown (m)Passenger loadfactor (%)Cargo carried(000 tonnes)Numberof A380Sources19973.70.26 3.6 70.0426—19984.0 0.26 3.6 70.0200 —19994.4 0.31 4.2 74.5 214 —20005.1 0.304.7 71.9269 —20016.3 0.42 5.7 75.1 335 —20027.1 0.466.7 74.3401 —20039.5 0.90 8.5 76.6 525 — 200413.1 1.5 10.4 73.4660 —200517.9 2.4 12.5 74.6 838 —200622.6 2.4 14.4 75.9 1,019 —200729.1 3.0 17.5 76.2 1,156 —200838.8 5.0 21.2 79.8 1,282 —200943.2 0.6822.7 75.81,408 4 201043.4 3.5 27.4 78.1 1,580 8 201154.2 5.3 31.4 80.0 1,767 15 201262.2 1.533.9 80.0 1,796 21 201373.1 2.2 39.3 79.72,086 31 201482.6 3.2 44.5 79.42,250 47 201588.8 4.5 49.2 79.6 2,377 59 201685.07.1 51.8 76.52,509 75 201785.0 1.256.0 75.12,577 94 201892.3 2.7 58.4 77.5 2,623 102 201997.9 0.8758.6 76.82,659 109 202091.91.0 56.178.5 2,389115 202130.9−20.26.544.31,8731132022 59.1 −3.919.5 58.6 2,139 118 2023107 10.5 43.6 79.5 1,849116202412117.251.979.92,176116202512719.053.678.92,338116
Branding
In the 1990s, Emirates launched its first set of commercials all with the slogan "So be good to yourself, Fly Emirates". In 1999, it launched a rare A330-200 commercial with different pictures showing the aircraft painted in the original livery and the livery used from 1999 until 2023, which was launched a few months prior.
Commercials reappeared beginning in 2002 and the airline adopted the slogan "Fly Emirates. Keep Discovering" in 2004. In the 2010s, Emirates utilized multiple slogans in its advertising including "Fly Emirates. Keep Discovering", "Fly Emirates To over Six Continents", and "Hello Tomorrow". Emirates currently uses the slogan "Fly Better".
Emirates introduced a new uniform design in August 2008 for its 16,000 staff, designed by Simon Jersey. The offboard uniform includes the Emirates hat, red kick-pleats in the skirts, more fitted blouses, and the return of red leather shoes and handbags. For the onboard uniform, male and female cabin crew wear service waistcoats in place of the previously worn service jackets and tabards. The male flight attendants wear a chocolate brown suit, featuring pinstripes, with a cream shirt and caramel, honey, and red tie. Both male and female pursers wear this chocolate brown color but with no red featured.
Since its formation in 1985, Emirates aircraft have carried a section of the United Arab Emirates flag on the tail fins, a calligraphy version of the logo in Arabic on the engines, and the "Emirates" logo on the fuselage both in Arabic and English. The color scheme used since 1985 was changed in November 1999, with the first Boeing 777-300. This change included the modification of the logotype, the enlargement and movement of the English logo (the Arabic remaining smaller) towards the front of the aircraft, and a different, flowing flag on the tailfin.
In 2022, Emirates launched two commercials featuring a flight attendant standing on the spire of the Burj Khalifa. The first commercial was about the UAE moving to the UK's Amber list in the wake of the COVID-19 travel restrictions. The second commercial was to promote the Expo 2020 event with an Airbus A380, painted in a special livery, circling the woman. The woman in the videos was a qualified stuntwoman dressed as an Emirates flight attendant.
Sponsorship Infrastructure
From 2011 until 2022, Emirates sponsored the Emirates Air Line cable car over the River Thames in East London.
Since 2015, Emirates has sponsored the England-based Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth on the south coast.Spinnaker Tower rebranded with the name of sponsor Emirates BBC News 5 June 2015 The airline had £3.5million worth of plans to paint the landmark red, but after discussion with the residents of Portsmouth and Southsea, Emirates agreed the tower was to be colored blue and gold, with red lettering of the Emirates sponsor, for the reason that Portsmouth F.C. (the local football team) is colored blue and rival football team Southampton F.C. is colored red. It is now named "Emirates Spinnaker Tower".
Sports Cricket
Emirates sponsors Cricket Australia, Lord's Taverners, and Pro Arch Tournament. Its branding also features on international cricket umpires' shirts. Emirates was also an official partner of the International Cricket Council. The deal gives Emirates association with all major ICC tournaments, including the 2011, 2015, and 2019 ICC Cricket World Cups, the Women's Cricket World Cups, ICC Champions Trophy, and ICC World Twenty20.
Emirates is the Twenty20 shirt sponsor of Durham County Cricket Club and holds the naming rights to the Riverside Ground, now known as Emirates Riverside, as well as the naming rights to the Emirates Old Trafford Cricket Ground, and is the shirt sponsor of Lancashire County Cricket Club. Emirates was also the major sponsor of the Kings XI Punjab (seasons two-four) and Deccan Chargers (season five), teams of the Indian Premier League, the largest domestic cricket tournament in the world.
Football
Emirates was a sponsor of FIFA and the FIFA World Cup, but stopped its sponsorship in early 2015 because of allegations of corruption and bribery within FIFA, as well as FIFA's controversial decision to award the 2022 FIFA World Cup to Qatar.