Business Traveller Middle East Awards 2021 has voted Emirates the ‘Best Airline Worldwide’ for the eighth consecutive year. 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 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 the air travel industry has experienced.
Modernising the travel experiences
To maintain its industry leadership, the airline has 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 has worked 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.
The airline began trialling the IATA Travel Pass in April and will be fully rolling it out to all flights by the end of May. The airline 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.
Emirates 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.
In addition to Covid-19 medical cover, it 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.
