kabarsula Emirates closes northern summer ahead of expectations, enters winter with strong bookings bandar SLOT INDONESIA

Emirates has closed its northern summer season ahead of expectations and enters winter with strong booking momentum across a broadening range of markets, as the airline continues to invest in its fleet, network and customer offering.

Between July and August, Emirates carried more than 8.6 million passengers, maintaining healthy seat load factors across its network. The airline is currently operating at around 93 per cent of its pre-disruption capacity, with demand continuing to build ahead of the winter season.

Winter bookings, from late October, are tracking positively despite a broader trend of customers booking closer to departure. South Africa, Brazil, India, Portugal, Egypt, Ghana, Colombia, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are among the markets currently ahead of last year, alongside Nepal through the Emirates–flydubai partnership. The UAE remains a strong outbound market, while demand for premium travel continues to grow.

Emirates services to and from West Asia, Europe, the Middle East, the Americas and Africa all recorded seat load factors above 75 per cent over summer, with particularly strong performance to Indonesia, Côte d’Ivoire and the UK. Premium Economy demand grew across the network, led by the Americas.

Dubai also saw strong inbound traffic – more than half a million customers arrived on Emirates flights in late August alone, up 7 per cent year-on-year, among them returning residents, new arrivals and late-summer visitors.

Over summer, Emirates added one free date change across the network and unlimited free date changes to Dubai, reduced refund fees on Dubai journeys, and launched Comprehensive Travel Cover, a policy covering medical costs linked to conflict and airspace disruption, backed by airline-managed accommodation, ground support and rebooking.

New aircraft

On the fleet side, Emirates has taken delivery of 18 aircraft since January – eleven A350s and seven Boeing 777 freighters – with six more A350s due before year’s end. The retrofit program has reached 104 aircraft (53 Boeing 777s and 51 A380s), bringing the Premium Economy-equipped fleet to 137 aircraft, rising to 155 by December. Premium Economy is now offered to 90 destinations, with six more – including Paris, Delhi and Stockholm – to follow this year. Close to 50 aircraft now carry Starlink connectivity.

New headrest

The airline also launched its U-dream headrest in A350 Economy Class this year, alongside what it calls the industry’s first Premium Economy seat with privacy dividers, and next-generation lounges now open in Munich, Frankfurt and Manchester.

New destinations

Network growth continues into winter, with Helsinki joining on 1 October via the A350 – lifting Dubai’s A350 destination count to 36 by year’s end from 30 currently. Accra, Tokyo Narita, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi gain second daily services, and one daily Delhi service will be upgraded to an A380. The A350 will be deployed to Larnaca, Malta, Nairobi and Hamburg from late October and Mauritius from November, while retrofitted 777s arrive on the Stockholm and Frankfurt routes.

Beyond its own network, Emirates’ 168 codeshare, interline and intermodal partnerships extend reach to a further 1,750 cities, with more than 13,000 customers a day connecting via partner airlines. The Emirates–flydubai partnership now spans over 214 unique destinations across 100-plus countries and more than 4,600 connection opportunities through Dubai, having carried a combined 28 million-plus passengers since 2017. flydubai has added Chittagong, Benghazi, Aleppo and Bangkok (Don Mueang) so far in 2026, with Pokhara following in September.