Last year Emirates introduced yet more innovative product enhancements, winning accolades from leading aviation bodies. It strengthened its position as the world’s largest long-haul airline and remained the number one choice for many aspiring cabin crew wannabes.
It’s no wonder that young people from around the world love working as cabin crew for Emirates or hope more than ever that they’ll attain that dream. The airline reached new heights of luxury and passenger comfort in 2016, adding more destinations to its worldwide network with one of the youngest aircraft fleets in the world.
Remarking on the airline’s performance in 2016, Tim Clark, the CEO of Emirates said: “Consumer appetite for travel has remained resilient, despite socio-economic and political headwinds around the globe, and that is reflected in our operational growth. Emirates will continue on our strategy of organic growth, leveraging on the geo-centricity of the UAE, and Dubai’s dynamic developments in tourism and commerce. We will also continue to invest in our product and services so as to offer our customers an outstanding experience and value proposition while they discover the world.”
Not all has been plain sailing at the airline however, as highly publicised problems have bitten into the bottom line and forced Emirates to tighten it’s purse strings – for the time being at least. Cabin crew recruitment has been temporarily suspended, as has training and development whilst management carry out a thorough review of the business
But there’s very good reason for hopeful candidates to endure the delay. As you wait for applications to reopen take a look at how Emirates improved in 2016:
A Fleet of 256 Aircraft
Emirates brought down the average age of its aircraft to just 5 years – way below an industry average of 11 years. Having retired 29 older planes, Emirates now operates an all wide-body fleet of Boeing 777-300’s and Airbus A380 aircraft – Planes that please both passengers and crew alike.
The largest operator of the super-jumbo, Emirates took delivery of 20 A380’s in 2016 with a massive 142 still to be delivered.
The airline also rolled out a new business class seat on their Boeing 777 fleet that boasts luxe new features. Premium travellers will enjoy seats that transform into fully flat 72-inch beds. What’s more, every seat will have its very own mini-bar and a 23 inch personal TV screen.
154 Destinations Across the Globe
Emirates added seven new passenger destinations in 2016 and one new cargo route. What’s more, the A380 super-jumbo will now fly to 44 destinations – Including the world’s shortest A380 flight and the world’s longest.
The marathon flight from Dubai to Auckland is a staggering 8,824 miles and takes 15 hours, 30 minutes. Whereas, Dubai to the Qatari Capital, Doha is just 236 miles, with a mere flight time of 1 hour.
Another Bumper Year of Awards
Emirates was chosen as the world’s most valuable airline brand in the Brand Finance report of 2016. The airline also stole the crown from Qatar Airways to be awarded the World’s Best Airline in the industry leading Skytrax World Airline Awards 2016.
The famous Emirates ICE system scooped the award for World’s Best Inflight Entertainment for yet another year. Cabin crew were also awarded by Skytrax, making the Top Ten list of World’s Best Cabin Crew.
Emirates crew were able to truly spoil their passengers over the course of 2016:
- 3 million Emirates ‘Fly with Me’ animal soft toys were gifted to young travellers,
- The world’s first interactive amenity kits were designed by Emirates and given to long-haul economy class passengers,
- First and Business Class passengers were treated to luxury amenity kits from Italian brand Bvlgari. Over 2.75 million of the new designed kits were handed out.
And the luxury didn’t stop there. Emirates introduced the world’s first moisturising inflight pyjamas for First Class passengers as well as super soft sheep-skin blankets and soft duvets for Business Class passengers.
The Best Inflight Entertainment
Emirates has long set new standards for inflight entertainment and communication, far surpassing what most of their competitors provide. 2,600 channels of movies, music, TV shows, games and more are now available on the award winning ICE inflight entertainment system.
What’s more, the majority of the Emirates aircraft fleet is now fitted with Wi-Fi and telephony services. Over 8.8 million passengers accessed Wi-Fi on-board Emirates flights in 2016 with 400.000 mid-air phone calls made and 1.7 million text messages sent from the sky.
And finally, yet another reason to love Emirates…
Photo Credit: Emirates Icons made by Pixel Buddha from www.flaticon.com
