Emirates emerges top in regional aviation awards

October 15, 2018 in Business, Companies, Foreign News, Transport by Editor

October 15, 2018—Emirates, the world’s largest operator of the high-capacity Boeing 777 and A380 aircraft has been selected as the ‘Middle East and Africa Airline of the Year’ by Airline Economics magazine after also reporting profits of just over $750 million last financial year.

Emirates and its financing partners also won ‘Deal of the Year for Innovation’, following a leasing deal for five Airbus A380s. Nirmal Govindadas, the Emirates Senior Vice President Corporate Treasury received both awards in Dubai recently where the carrier’s hub is also located in the United Arab Emirates. Emirates flies daily between Entebbe and Dubai.

Winners of the Aviation 100 awards are decided by an industry-wide survey, a rigorous vetting process and editorial consideration. 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 $25.2 billion and posting a profit of $762 million.  Some 58 million passengers were carried together with 2.6 million tonnes of cargo. In 2017, Emirates also clocked 289 million scheduled passenger kilometres flown (RPKMs).

The Aviation 100 Awards ranks the top 10 performers in each category with the winner receiving a coveted outstanding achievement award. There are four award regional ceremonies every year, which culminate in the overall Global Leaders awards held in Dublin in January.

The awards begin with the Middle East and Africa awards held during October in Dubai, the Americas awards are held in New York City shortly after, followed quickly by the Asia-Pacific awards in Hong Kong at the end of October. The European awards are held during December in London.