Emirates has been voted ‘Best Airline Worldwide’ for the eighth consecutive time by the Business Traveller Middle East Awards 2021. The airline also took home accolades for ‘Airline with the Best First Class’, and ‘Airline with Best Economy Class’.

The wins demonstrate Emirates’ strategic approach to continuously improving the onboard and on the ground experience, offering a safe customer journey across all touchpoints, leaving no detail behind, while ensuring it meets evolving customer expectations during the most challenging period in the air travel industry has experienced.

To maintain its industry leadership, the airline has also doubled down on its digital approach to modernise the air travel experience by fully launching and scaling up its biometric path and touchless check-in, providing further assurance and meeting the evolving expectations of customers for a safer, contactless travel experience. Today, from check-in to gate, customers have the choice to experience the future of travel at over 33 Emirates biometric checkpoints and close to 50 touchless kiosks across Dubai International Airport.

Emirates continues to work hard to make travel easier and minimise restrictions by closely collaborating with industry bodies and government authorities to standardise Covid-19 related medical documentation like vaccine records and PCR test results. Emirates began trialling the IATA Travel Pass in April and will be fully rolling it out to all flights by the end of May. Emirates has also tied up with the Dubai Health Authority for digital verification of Covid-19 related medical records, further supporting a seamless, paperless experience for customers at check-in.

When to comes to protecting customer travel plans, the airline has also expanded initiatives to offer greater assurance and flexibility for a stress-free experience. Customers now have more protection when they plan and rebook their trips with a seamless rebooking experience should their circumstances change for up to 36 months. On the Skywards front, Emirates has extended its members’ tier status until 2022 and continues to roll out more ways to earn miles, including online and retail shopping, as well as co-branded credit cards and other brand tie-ups.

The airline was a first mover in the industry when it introduced free Covid-19 cover to help customers travel with more confidence. The initiative generated positive feedback from customers and the wider industry, with many airlines following suit. Emirates expanded this to offer the airline’s industry first, multi-risk travel insurance and COVID-19 cover. This generous cover is offered by Emirates on all tickets at no cost to customers. In addition to COVID-19 medical cover, the cover also accounts for personal accidents during travel, winter sports cover, loss of personal belongings, and trip disruptions due to unexpected air space closure, travel recommendations or advisories, and other circumstances.

When customers are ready to get back into the skies, an elevated onboard experience awaits them across every cabin class. True to its ‘Fly Better’ promise, Emirates continued to invest in the onboard experience in spite of pandemic challenges.

The Emirates’ First Class experience leads the industry as one of the most luxurious in the skies. In addition to the much talked about Boeing 777-300ER Gamechanger fully enclosed suites, the latest A380 private suites have been recently refreshed with additional enhancements including wider and taller doors for even more privacy and comfort. Customers travelling on the airline’s flagship A380 can also look forward to the in-flight Shower Spa, the Onboard Lounge and many other touches that take flying to a whole new level.

As customers return to travel, Emirates is bringing them a generous and comfortable experience in Economy Class. On its latest A380, Emirates has replaced its Economy seats onboard with more ergonomically designed seats that come with full leather headrests and flexible side panels which can be adjusted vertically for optimum support, a step up from the version currently installed on Emirates’ Boeing 777 Gamechanger aircraft. Each seat features an elegant wood grain finish on tray tables, as well as a 13.3” personal screen to enjoy Emirates’ award-winning ice offering more than 4,500 channels on demand.

The Business Traveller Middle East awards are dedicated to business travel, covering all aspects of the industry from airlines, airports, hotels and loyalty programmes. The awards were presented virtually and attended by hundreds of industry professionals from across the region. Shortlisted companies are judged by a panel of travel experts, alongside the magazine’s editorial team, in addition to feedback from readers.