Emirates passengers up 9% to 51.3 million

Dubai: Emirates airline has carried over 51.3 million passengers since January 2015, which represents nine per cent growth in numbers during the same period in the previous calendar year.
Emirates operated around 3,600 flights on average per week, or over 186,000 flights in 2015, travelling more than 824 million kilometres around the globe, which is the distance equivalent of more than 1,000 trips to the moon and back.
The airline served over 57 million meals on its flights departing from Dubai and handled over 35 million pieces of baggage in Dubai alone.
Tim Clark, president of Emirates airline, said: "2015 has been a year of considerable growth for Emirates as we continued to steer our course despite the headwinds of regional conflict, unfavourable currency impact and shaky business and consumer confidence in many global markets."

Emirates added 26 new aircraft to its fleet in 2015, comprising 15 A380s, 10 Boeing 777-300ERs and one Boeing 777 Freighter, rounding off the year with 246 aircraft in service. Twenty six aircraft are slated to retire in 2016.
At the Dubai Airshow in November, Emirates introduced the world's first two-class configured A380 with the capacity to carry 615 passengers.
Network expansion
The airline expanded its network to 150 destinations in 2015, with the addition of six new passenger routes: Bali, Multan, Orlando, Mashhad, Bologna and Sabiha Gokcen in Istanbul; and three cargo-only destinations in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), Columbus (US) and Ciudad del Este (Paraguay).
In addition, Emirates increased frequencies and upgraded capacity to numerous points across its network. In August, Emirates announced plans to launch services to Panama City, beginning February 1, 2016. The new service will be the longest non-stop flight in the world (17 hours 35 minutes) and will be Emirates' first gateway destination in Central America.
Emirates continues to invest over $20 million annually to install and operate inflight connectivity systems. Emirates rolled out its newest generation in-flight entertainment (IFE) system on its newly delivered Boeing 777-300ER in August and Airbus A380 aircraft in November.
In October, Emirates launched new amenity kits for its first and business class customers in collaboration with luxury Italian brand Bvlgari. For travelling families, Emirates released a new range of toys and activity packs in November to keep young travellers entertained.
On the ground, Emirates expanded its lounge network with the opening of new facilities in Tokyo Narita and Los Angeles International airports, taking the total number of dedicated Emirates Lounges globally to 38.
Emirates launched its mobile app for customers using the Android platform and an app for Apple Watch to complement the Emirates iPhone app. Emirates also launched its mobile website in several languages, including Arabic, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Russian, Chinese, Turkish, Greek, Italian, Korean and Polish.
Emirates continues to have an important impact on the economies of markets it serves - through the provision of international air transport links that facilitate trade and tourism flows, direct and indirect employment through the aviation supply chain and other industries reliant on commercial air transport.
In 2015, Emirates announced a historic $9.2 billion deal with Rolls-Royce for Trent 900 engines to power 50 of its A380 aircraft, and a long-term TotalCare package.
In November, Emirates signed a $16 billion OnPoint solution agreement with GE Aviation for the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) of the GE9X engines.
EU contribution
In March, Frontier Economics estimated that Emirates contributed ?6.8 billion to the economies of European Union countries in 2013 and 2014, supporting more than 85,000 jobs.
In November, the National Council of Applied Economic Research in India estimated that Emirates' operations contributed over $848 million annually to India's GDP, supporting over 86,000 Indian jobs and generating almost $1.7 billion in foreign exchange earnings.
Emirates' brand value grew more than 21 per cent to $6.6 billion, according to The Brand Finance Global 500 report.
abdulbasit@khaleejtimes.com