Emirates named Middle East’s best airline as passengers rate comfort, food and Wi-Fi

Emirates wins regional APEX award after strong passenger ratings across five categories

Last updated: June 11, 2026 | 12:43

Nivetha Dayanand, Assistant Business Editor

2 MIN READ

Emirates named Middle East’s best airline as passengers rate comfort, food and Wi-Fi

Dubai: Emirates has been named Best Overall Airline in the Middle East at the 2026 APEX Best in Airline Awards, after passengers rated the Dubai carrier highly across comfort, service, food, entertainment and connectivity.

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The award was announced at a ceremony in Dublin, Ireland, where Emirates was recognised for its customer experience across five core areas. The ratings were based on verified passenger feedback covering seat comfort, cabin service, food and beverage, inflight entertainment and Wi-Fi.

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Passengers rate Emirates across five areas

The airline scored highly for seat comfort across its Airbus A380, Airbus A350 and Boeing 777 aircraft. Emirates is also continuing its fleet retrofit programme, with cabin upgrades across Economy, Premium Economy, Business Class and First Class.

From October, Economy Class passengers will get new Safran Z400 seats with an adjustable eight-way headrest. Premium Economy offers wider cream leather seats, greater recline, leg and footrests, charging ports and a 13.3-inch screen.

Business Class seats on the A350 convert into fully lie-flat beds and include added privacy, wireless charging, mood lighting, storage and minibar features. First Class offers enclosed suites with electronic doors, climate controls, ambient lighting and lie-flat beds.

Food, service and entertainment

Emirates said its cabin crew represent more than 140 nationalities and speak over 70 languages. The airline said its service model is built around excellence, attentiveness, innovation and passion.

Food and beverage also formed part of the passenger rating. Emirates offers multi-course meals, children’s meals, special dietary meals and cabin-specific dining options.

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Premium Economy meals are served on Royal Doulton china, while Business Class passengers receive multi-course menus with premium beverages. First Class offers dine-on-demand meals, unlimited caviar and a Movie Snacks Menu.

The airline’s ice entertainment system offers more than 6,500 channels, including films, television, music, podcasts, documentaries, children’s content, live news and sport.

Starlink rollout continues

Connectivity was another factor in the award. Emirates is rolling out Starlink across its in-service fleet, with installation expected to be completed by mid-2027.

The airline said 33 Boeing 777-300ER aircraft have already been fitted with Starlink, while the first three Airbus A380s are entering service with the system onboard.

The free service allows passengers to stream, browse, work, make video calls and use social media during flights.

Nivetha DayanandAssistant Business Editor

Nivetha Dayanand is Assistant Business Editor at Gulf News, covering aviation, financial markets and commodities. A business and financial journalist with a strong interest in multimedia storytelling, she regularly takes complex financial and economic subjects beyond the written word, producing explainer videos that make them easier for a wider audience to understand. Nivetha has interviewed senior policymakers, business leaders and global financial figures both on and off camera. Her past guests include UAE Minister of Economy and Tourism Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, Khaled bin Alwaleed Al Saud, a member of the House of Saud and the founder and CEO of KBW Ventures, Jihad Azour, Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund and Indian ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and N. Chandrababu Naidu. She has also hosted and moderated panels, conferences and awards shows, bringing her newsroom experience to live conversations on business, finance and the economy. An Erasmus Mundus journalism alum, Nivetha is drawn to stories that affect people directly and to reporting that gives a platform to voices that might otherwise go unheard. She was among the first journalists to speak to Petrofac employees in the UAE about unpaid salaries, broke the news of the planned demolition of Dubai’s well-known “Toyota Building”, and helped set the record straight on widely circulated claims that a giant replica of the Moon was coming to Dubai. More recently, her exclusive interview with EDGE Group CEO Hamad Al Marar revealed how the UAE-based defence group deployed its systems along the country’s shore border and established a geofence around the UAE within 48 hours of the February 28 escalation. Prior to joining Gulf News, Nivetha worked at ITP Media, where she helped launch Finance Middle East, a new publication covering the region’s financial sector. Her role spanned reporting and editing, video production, interviews and events. Across print, digital, and video, she focuses on finding the people behind business stories and explaining why those stories matter to the audience reading or watching them.