Emirates Airline will round off 2014 as the airline with the world's largest wide-body passenger fleet of 218 aircraft, in addition to 14 freighters.
Following two consecutive years of record deliveries and capacity increases, 2014 saw Emirates adding 27 aircraft - 13 Airbus A380s, 12 Boeing 777-300ERs two Boeing 777 freighters – to its fleet. These included its 50th A380 and its 100th 777-300ER aircraft, strengthening Emirates' position as the world's largest operator of both the A380 and 777.
"These modern and efficient aircraft not only help reduce environmental impact, but also enable Emirates to offer the latest facilities and comfort on board," the Airliner said yesterday.
Remarking on an eventful year marked by a series of external challenges, Sir Tim Clark, President, Emirates Airline, said, "This year we have navigated through an 80-day period of reduced operations due to upgrade works at our hub airport, regional conflicts which impacted our operations and flight routes, the Ebola outbreak, fluctuations in oil prices and currency exchange rates, and economic uncertainty in many markets worldwide.
"Despite all that, Emirates has continued to grow, adding capacity equivalent to a mid-sized airline while maintaining our seat load factors. We also expanded and strengthened our global network, which gives us the flexibility to cope with regional shocks and redeploy strategically to maximise opportunities. We deal with the short term challenges, but are not distracted from our long-term plans. This is why Emirates continues to invest heavily in new technology and initiatives to enhance our product offering and customer experience." Since January 2014, Emirates has carried over 45 million passengers, operating 3,516 flights per week on average. The airline carried over 2.1 million tonnes of cargo, served over 47 million meals and flew 756 million kilometres – equivalent to circumnavigating the globe 18,552 times.
Emirates introduced services to eight new destinations this year, with each new point exponentially increasing the number of city-pair combinations that the airline offers to its leisure, business and cargo customers across its global network. The new cities launched in 2014 were Kiev, Taipei, Boston, Abuja, Chicago, Oslo, Brussels and Budapest.
In addition, Emirates added frequencies to 20 existing destinations, increasing flight choices for its customers.
Emirates' deliveries paved the way for the launch of 10 new A380 destinations including Zurich, Barcelona, London Gatwick, Kuwait, Mumbai, Frankfurt, Dallas/Fort Worth, San Francisco, Milan and Houston. Emirates currently operates its highly-popular flagship A380 to 32 scheduled destinations. In 2014, Emirates also led one-off A380 services to Glasgow, Manila, Tehran and Vienna.
On the cargo front, Emirates SkyCargo marked a momentous year with the move of its freighter operations to Dubai World Central's Al Maktoum International Airport in May. Its new cargo terminal at DWC offers the capacity that positions Emirates SkyCargo for future growth, and enables the cargo division to provide a better experience for its customers.
Source: WAM