Emirates business model

[1] Its main ingredients are a lean workforce comparable to a low-cost carrier and a flat organisational structure that allows the airline to maintain low overhead costs.

Since Dubai International Airport does not have any night flying restrictions, Emirates achieves a higher utilisation of its aircraft than competitors.

In FY 2007/08, fuel accounted for more than 30% of Emirates total expenditure, comparable with other international long-haul carriers such as British Airways, Lufthansa, Qantas and Singapore Airlines.

[11] Emirates has also defended itself against competitor accusations claiming it pays discounted airport user charges at its home base.

The airline rejected these claims, stating that it paid the same user charges at Dubai as everyone else, which were similar to those prevailing at other comparable airports in the region, including Abu Dhabi, Doha, and Bahrain.

Emirates furthermore points out that this enables it to offer regional passengers based in or near important secondary cities such as Glasgow, Newcastle, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Nice, Venice, Brisbane or Perth convenient, worldwide one-stop connections via its global hub in Dubai.

Emirates has countered this by stating that it faces the same costs to attract and retain staff recruited from around the world on expatriate terms and conditions as other airlines.

[17] Emirates has experienced very high capacity factors on its Canadian services, averaging 90% since the start of operations between Toronto and Dubai.

In addition to operating daily between Dubai and Toronto to give business and leisure passengers greater flexibility, the airline had plans to add Calgary, Montreal and Vancouver to its UAE–Canada schedule.

[22] In 2022, Air Canada and Emirates announced a strategic partnership, involving code-share routes and reciprocal frequent-flyer benefits and lounge access.