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Emirates operating at 93% capacity as 98% of network returns to normal
Demand was even stronger during the summer months, with July and August seeing 8.7 million passengers travelling with the Dubai-based carrier, the deputy said.
- PUBLISHED: Thu 10 Sept 2026, 1:06 PM UPDATED: Thu 10 Sept 2026, 2:45 PM
Emirates Airlines is currently operating at 93 per cent capacity, the airline's deputy president said, with around 98 per cent of its network fully operational.
Adnan Kazim, Deputy President and Chief Commercial Officer, said that demand was even stronger during the summer months, with July and August seeing 8.7 million passengers travelling with Emirates.
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“In general, our situation is good. We are continuing the process of adding new destinations,” he told reporters on Thursday, referring to the airline’s latest year-round, daily flights to Helsinki.
“In the second half of August, we moved more than half a million users to Dubai, whether they were residents or tourists coming to the UAE.”
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The official said that Emirates managed to recover 56 per cent of its network a mere few days after the start of the US-Iran war at the end of February. He added that two to three months after the onset of the conflict, Emirates carried around 4.7 million passengers.
Kazim was speaking at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) press conference. ATM, initially scheduled for May, has had to be rescheduled to September 14-17, which officials at the conference described as a turning point for the travel industry considering the geopolitical circumstances.
Emirates to showcase new Premium Economy seats
Emirates will showcase its first electrically charged Premium Economy seats at the travel event next week, which will be introduced in some of its A350 fleet. The seats will have a full-height privacy divider, as well as preset lounge and meal seating positions, a U-Dream leather headrest, wireless charging, USB-C power charging, and a13.3-inch 4K HDR screen.
Emirates stand will also include its A380 Shower Spa, A380 Onboard Lounge, Boeing 777 Game Changer First Class Suite, A350 Business Class seat, and A350 Economy Class Seats with the U-Dream headrest.
“Today we're sitting at 140 destinations in 72 countries. We partnered with 168 airlines today. We cover 1,750 cities in terms of connectivity. We carry more than 13,000 passengers through the definition that we created with our partners. And we have 291 working aircraft, 137 of them with the premium economy seat,” Kazim said.
Hind Aldah is a business reporter based in Sharjah. In her spare time, you will find her playing classical guitar, painting amateur oil paintings, or crocheting the same old scarf that leads nowhere.