Emirates is 2020’s biggest international airline by flying nearly 16m passengers

Dubai: Emirates airline handled nearly 1.2 million customers at its Dubai hub during July and August compared to 402,000 customers during the same period last year. Last year, Emirates was the largest international airline carrying over 15.8 million passengers, according to IATA’s latest World Air Transport Statistics 2021.

Since Dubai re-opened to international visitors, Emirates has gradually restored its network and flight schedules from just a handful of cities in July 2020 to over 120 destinations today. There are plans for "more flights to be layered onto over 20 Emirates routes by October," said Emirates.

Biometrics and self-service check-ins

In 2019, Emirates began testing and implementing biometric technology at various customer journey touchpoints at the airport. It has over 30 biometric cameras in active operation at Dubai airport hub, including at check-in counters, at the entrances of its First and Business Class lounges, and select boarding gates. Since implementation, over 58,000 customers have used this verification option to access Emirates Lounge, and more than 380,000 customers have used biometric gates to board their flight.

Emirates plans to expand the number of boarding gates equipped with biometric scanners. The airline has worked closely with Dubai airport stakeholders - including the immigration team (GDRFA) - to re-activate Smart Gates that enable eligible travellers to cruise through passport control on arrival and departure in a matter of seconds, using new contactless technology.

Enabling customers to check-in, receive their boarding pass, choose seats on board and drop off their bags, Emirates’ self-service check-in and bag drop kiosks have seen increasing usage since its introduction in September 2020. In the last two months, over 568,000 customers used this convenient service which enabled them to skip queuing at the counter, breeze through the airport and proceed directly to immigration.

Emirates will introduce six additional self-service check-in and bag drop kiosks in its First and Business Class terminal area this month.

COVID-19 info hub

Emirates’ COVID-19 information hub has become one of the top authoritative sources of information for travellers. These has also been a forerunner in adopting digital verification solutions for travel, from adopting the IATA Travel Pass to partnering with the UAE health authorities to enable seamless digital checks for COVID-19 travel documentation.

"These projects deliver multiple benefits from better customer experiences to the reduced use of paper, and improved efficiency and reliability in travel document checks," said Emirates.

By October, the airline would have extended the implementation of IATA Travel Pass for customers at all of its destinations.