Emirates (www.Emirates.com) has closed the summer season ahead of expectations and enters winter with strong booking momentum across a broadening range of markets, as the airline continues to invest in its fleet and industry-leading products, in its global network, and in offering customers greater booking flexibility and comprehensive travel cover.
Between July and August, Emirates carried more than 8.6 million passengers, maintaining healthy seat load factors across its network. The airline is currently operating at around 93% of its pre-disruption capacity, with demand continuing to build as the winter travel season approaches.
Bookings for winter, beginning in late October, are tracking positively despite a broader shift where customers are making travel decisions closer to departure. South Africa, Brazil, India, Portugal, Egypt, Ghana, Colombia, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are among the markets where demand is currently tracking ahead of last year, alongside Nepal through Emirates' partnership with flydubai.
In Africa specifically, South Africa, Egypt and Ghana are leading this positive trend, reflecting sustained demand for Emirates' network and product investments across the continent.
The UAE also remains a strong outbound market, while demand for premium travel on Emirates continues to grow.
Strong summer demand
Emirates services to and from West Asia, Europe, the Middle East, the Americas and Africa all recorded seat load factors well above 75% during the summer, with particularly strong performance on routes to and from Indonesia, Côte d'Ivoire and across the UK.
Côte d'Ivoire's strong summer performance underscores continued demand for Emirates across West Africa.
Demand for Premium Economy grew across the network, with the Americas recording the strongest growth in demand for this cabin.
Dubai also continued to attract strong inbound traffic. In late August alone, more than half a million customers arrived in Dubai on Emirates flights, up 7% on the same period last year. Travellers included residents returning ahead of the new school year, new residents relocating to Dubai to live and work, and visitors choosing the city for a late-summer break.
Over the summer, customers had more reasons to choose Emirates. The airline boosted its flexibility proposition with one free date change anywhere across the network, and unlimited free date changes to Dubai. It also reduced refund fees on Dubai journeys and introduced Comprehensive Travel Cover, a first-of-its-kind policy which includes medical cover protecting against conflict and airspace disruption, backed by airline-managed accommodation, ground support and rebooking where needed.
Fleet upgrades and product investments gather pace
Since January 2026, the airline has welcomed 18 aircraft – 11 new A350s and seven Boeing 777 freighters – with another six A350s scheduled to arrive before the end of December.
To date, 104 aircraft have completed Emirates' retrofit programme, including 53 Boeing 777s and 51 A380s. This brings the number of aircraft offering Premium Economy and Emirates' latest cabin products to 137. By the end of December, that number will have risen to 155 aircraft.
This expanding product footprint gives customers significantly more opportunities to experience Emirates' latest cabins. Premium Economy is now available on services to 90 destinations, with another 6 destinations set to receive the product before the end of this year, including Paris, Delhi, Stockholm, and others.
Connectivity is also being upgraded. Close to 50 Emirates aircraft are now fitted with Starlink, with installations progressing alongside the retrofit programme to bring high-speed inflight internet to more customers.
This year, Emirates also launched the innovative U-dream headrests onboard its A350 Economy Class, the industry’s first Premium Economy seat with privacy dividers, and its next generation signature lounges – with new facilities already welcoming guests in Munich, Frankfurt and Manchester.
More destinations, frequencies and connectivity
Emirates' network will continue to expand heading into winter, with new destinations, additional frequencies and more of its latest aircraft deployed across key markets.
Helsinki joins the Emirates network on 1 October, launching with the A350. The aircraft currently serves 30 destinations from Dubai, increasing to 36 by year-end.
Emirates is also adding capacity on several routes to meet demand. Accra will receive three additional weekly services, while Tokyo Narita, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi will receive second daily services, and one of the airline's daily Delhi services will be upgraded to an A380.
The additional Accra frequency reflects growing demand across West Africa and reinforces Emirates' commitment to strengthening connectivity to the region.
The Emirates A350 will be deployed to Larnaca, Malta, Nairobi and Hamburg from late October, followed by Mauritius in November. Retrofitted Boeing 777s will be introduced to Stockholm in October and Frankfurt in November, extending Emirates' latest onboard products to more markets.
Emirates is also strengthening its African footprint, with new A350 deployments to Uganda and South Africa this year, alongside an upcoming A380 introduction on the Paris route.
Beyond its own network, Emirates' 168 codeshare, interline and intermodal partnerships give customers access to an additional 1,750 cities. On an average day, more than 13,000 Emirates customers connect to their destinations on services operated by partner airlines.
The Emirates and flydubai partnership has become one of the defining features of the Dubai hub experience. Today, both carriers provide access to more than 214 unique destinations in over 100 countries, generating more than 4,600 connection opportunities through Dubai.
Emirates customers can reach over 100 flydubai destinations, while flydubai passengers can access more than 140 Emirates destinations. Kathmandu, Zanzibar, Krabi and Belgrade rank among the most popular flydubai destinations for Emirates customers.
Since the partnership launched in 2017, the two airlines have carried more than 28 million passengers across their integrated network.
Alongside Emirates' Helsinki launch in a few weeks, flydubai added Chittagong in Bangladesh in April 2026, Benghazi in Libya in June, followed by Aleppo in Syria and Bangkok (Don Mueang Airport) in July. Further expansion in September includes Pokhara in Nepal.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of The Emirates Group.
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