Emirates leads the polls

A few days later, Emirates was named 'Most Popular Airline' in ArabianBusiness.com's Travel Survey 2008, outflanking the next closest contender by a large margin.

In both awards, readers from the region voted for their favourite travel provider.

At the Business Traveller Middle East Awards 2008 gala ceremony, Emirates walked away with four of the most coveted airline gongs for 'Best Airline', 'Best Business Class', 'Best Regional Airline' and 'Best Frequent Flyer Programme'. In the other three airline categories in which Emirates was eligible to compete, it was ranked amongst the top three.

Tim Clark, President, Emirates Airline, and Brian Labelle, Senior Vice President, Skywards, collected these awards on behalf of Emirates.

In the ArabianBusiness.com's travel survey, Emirates garnered 36.6% of all votes for most preferred airline, compared to the next ranked airline which gained 6.8% of votes.

Mr. Clark said: 'Emirates invests millions of dollars in product and service innovation. It has always been our aim to deliver the best possible travel experience, and it is gratifying to be recognised for our efforts by the region's business travellers - our core customers.

'We intend to keep our customers at the centre of all that we do, listening to what they want, as we develop new products and services that will raise the luxury standards for air travel and make travel with Emirates even more enjoyable'.

Emirates pioneered true luxury in commercial air travel on its Airbus A340-500 aircraft in 2003, when it introduced the world's first private suites in its First Class cabin, and over 600 channels of on-demand entertainment in all seats in all classes. Feedback from travellers was tremendous.

Today Emirates' new aircraft are delivered with private suites fitted in First Class, lie-flat seats in Business Class, ergonomic seats in Economy Class, and 1,000 channels of on-demand entertainment in all seats.

The airline also implemented an aggressive retrofit programme to bring these latest inflight amenities to the rest of its fleet.

To date, nearly half of Emirates' fleet are equipped with these latest comforts.

Dubai-based Emirates is one of the world's most successful and profitable airlines.

Operating services to 99 cities spanning 62 countries on six continents, Emirates has earned a reputation for inflight innovation and industry-leading service, and has won more than 400 international awards for excellence across its operations.