Emirates earns top spot at Business Traveller Middle East Awards 2020

Emirates has earned top spot at the Business Traveller Middle East Awards 2020, sweeping four awards including the coveted ‘Best Airline Worldwide’ award for the seventh consecutive year. The airline also took home ‘Airline with the Best First Class’, ‘Airline with Best Cabin Crew’ and ‘Best Airport Lounge in the Middle East’.

The wins underscore Emirates’ commitment to offer a better and safer customer experience in the air and on the ground across every class of travel. The awards also highlight how the airline has been supporting its customers during the COVID-19 pandemic, rapidly meeting evolving consumer expectations during these times. Emirates has reengineered its customer experience with industry-leading health and safety measures across every touchpoint of the travel journey, and introduced initiatives to offer travel assurance, greater flexibility, and restore confidence in flying.

Emirates led the way to become the first airline to offer customers free COVID-19 cover to help customers travel with more confidence, knowing that medical expenses of up to EUR 150,000 and quarantine costs of EUR 100 per day for 14 days will be covered if they are diagnosed with COVID-19 during their travel, while they are away from home.

At every step of the journey, Emirates has spared no effort to prioritise the care, health and safety of its customers, employees and communities. Enhanced biosafety measures include the distribution of complimentary hygiene kits, protective barriers at check-in desks and immigration counters, personal protective equipment and new safety protocols for cabin crew and airport employees in customer facing roles, and elevated aircraft cleaning procedures including the frequent cleaning and disinfecting of aircraft lavatories every 45 minutes during flights, amongst many other measures.

Emirates regularly reviews all its biosafety measures in line with the latest expert guidance. This week, Emirates re-introduced its iconic A380 products and onboard experiences, including the Onboard Lounge and Shower Spa, as well as social areas in Business Class and First Class on select Boeing 777 aircraft following a thorough review and the implementation of additional health and safety measures. With modified services in place, customers can once again enjoy Emirates’ signature products and services onboard.

The Emirates’ First Class experience has been a showcase for product innovations like private suites, the in-flight Shower Spa, the Onboard Lounge and many other industry firsts, taking the flying experience to a whole new level. Service was temporarily modified however many of the signature products and services have now been restored, and travelling First Class on Emirates remains an unparalleled experience.

The Business Traveller Middle East Awards 2020 were presented virtually, and attended by hundreds of industry professionals across the region. The awards are judged by a panel of travel experts alongside the magazine’s editorial team.

UAE, Israel aviation deal: The UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), signed an air transport services agreement with the Civil Aviation Authority of Israel, to strengthen the bilateral air transport relations between the two countries. Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri, UAE Minister of Economy and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the GCAA, and Israel Katz, Minister of Transport of Israel, signed the agreement at a meeting held recently at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.

During the meeting, both sides discussed various topics of mutual concern in the field of civil aviation and related areas of cooperation between the two countries.

“The agreement is an important step towards creating positive and beneficial relations between the two countries, following the signing of the Abrahamic Peace Accord that aims to establish the foundations of peace, achieve development and create opportunities for economic and social development in the region,” Al Marri said.

“The agreement will consolidate the cooperation between the two countries in civil aviation, which is one of their key sectors, as well as reinforce the UAE’s international position, as it currently ranks first in the world in terms of the number of signed air transport services agreements. Under the agreement, Emirati airlines will be able to operate 28 passenger flights to Tel Aviv and unlimited flights to Eilat every week, in addition to cargo flights. As for unscheduled flights, we have agreed to not place any restrictions,” he added.

Flights between the UAE and Israel are expected to start in a matter of weeks and the new agreement will promote tourism and trade between the two countries.

WAM