Dubai’s Emirates reports ‘very busy’ summer, says high demand to persist over winter

Emirates marked one of its busiest summers travel seasons, carrying over 14 million passengers with average seat load factors exceeding 80 per cent across its global network between the months of June and August.

Looking at the coming months, the airline’s booking trends show high demand for international travel across its network.

Destination Dubai remained popular amongst travellers, even during the summer months with two million customers traveling to the emirate.

Top inbound markets to Dubai on Emirates during this period included the UK, India, Germany, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, China, Egypt and Kuwait.

Over 35 per cent of visitors to Dubai travelling with the airline were families, staying an average of over two weeks.

We’ve had a very busy summer, carrying over 14 million passengers with average seat load factors exceeding 80% across our network between June and August. Over two million of these passengers travelled to Dubai during this time! https://t.co/koIVpTZgd8 pic.twitter.com/aeZoyHJcGz

— Emirates (@emirates) August 23, 2023

Emirates Airline is expecting a spike in travel during the winter months

This winter season, the airline expects another rise in demand for travel to Dubai as the city runs a packed calendar of global conferences, world-class sporting events and more.

The city has already welcomed more than 8.5 million international visitors in the first six months of 2023, registering more than a million more visitors during the same time last year.

Read: Dubai: DXB passenger traffic surges 49.1% in H1’23; surpasses pre-pandemic levels

Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ CCO, said, “Travel demand across our network has been strong and resilient despite rising cost-of-living pressures in many markets. It shows the value that people place on travel – whether for work, play, study, or visiting loved ones; and how essential international air connectivity is to communities.”

He added, “As an early mover in restoring our flying schedules, we worked closely with our industry partners to ensure our readiness to serve customer demand as well as attract visitors through building on the appeal of our home and hub, Dubai. We’re happy to see strong customer preference for our product in all cabin classes, especially in our premium cabins. We will continue to ensure we are delivering the best value for money to our customers, by investing in our products, services, and in operating an efficient global network.”

From June to August, the airline operated nearly 50,000 flights to and from 140 cities, carrying over 14 million passengers.