Emirates, the world’s largest international airline, has won the Aviation 100 ‘Middle East & Africa Airline of the Year’, awarded by Airline Economics magazine.
The Aviation 100 awards recognise aviation’s most outstanding performers, as well as the most innovative and successful finance and leasing deals closed in the last 12 months.
The awards were held during the Airline Economics Growth Frontiers Dubai 2018 conference gala dinner.
Emirates and its financing partners also won ‘Deal of the Year for Innovation’, which resulted from a leasing transaction of five Airbus A380s.
Nirmal Govindadas, Senior Vice President Corporate Treasury received both awards on behalf of Emirates earlier this week.
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The Emirates Aviation 100 ‘Airline of the Year’ accolade was won based on the airline’s financial and revenue per passenger kilometres (RPK) performance, aircraft orders, as well as network and fleet expansion activity.
In the 2017-18 financial year, Emirates delivered a solid performance, increasing its revenue to AED 92.3 billion (US$25.2 billion), and posting a profit of AED 2.8 billion (US$762 million).
The airline carried more than 58 million passengers and 2.6 million tonnes of cargo. In 2017, Emirates also clocked in 289 million scheduled passenger kilometres flown (RPKMs).
Emirates also made global headlines with two significant commitments for new aircraft in the last year.
At the 2017 Dubai Airshow, the airline announced a US$15.1 billion agreement for 40 Boeing 787-10 Dreamliners, with delivery commencing in 2022.
In early 2018, Emirates reinforced its commitment to the Airbus A380 programme with a US$16 billion deal for an additional 36 aircraft.
The airline remains the world’s largest operator of the Boeing 777 and A380, and the orders made in the past year underline Emirates’ commitment to operating a wide-body fleet of aircraft that allows for continuous product enhancements and innovations.
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