Emirates brings business rewards to small & medium sized businesses in 55 countries

Keith Longstaff, Emirates' Divisional Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations Worldwide, said: "Since its launch, more than 2,000 small and medium sized businesses have signed on and benefitted from Emirates' Business Rewards.

"Small and medium-sized businesses represent a large and growing segment of the market, particularly here in the Gulf. Despite the challenging economic environment, or perhaps because of it, Business Rewards continues to grow from strength to strength because of the broad range of benefits the programme brings to SMEs. Moving ahead, we intend to introduce promotions and enhance the current functions, so that we can meet the fast-changing market requirements and our customers' travel needs."

First launched in the UAE in May 2008, Business Rewards was subsequently rolled-out across Emirates' network and is now available in 55 countries across the globe. Not surprisingly the UAE, the home base of Emirates Airline, currently boasts the highest number of Business Rewards members.

Rohan Shetty, Group Managing Director, Kellett & Singleton, and one of Emirates' Business Rewards members in the UAE said:

"Our diverse business interests include everything from shipping and logistics to floriculture. With businesses located across the globe, and given the current economic climate it is vital that we focus on costs. Business Rewards allows us to do that, with access to excellent Emirates fares and an in-depth reporting tool to monitor and analyze our travel spend."

"A key contributing factor in our success is prudent and targeted investments in tools & technology which allow us to be nimble and quickly react to our customers' needs. It is very important therefore that our business partners have the same commitment. Business Rewards demonstrates that Emirates is committed to constantly improve how we do business with them.

"We are considering using the Business Reward miles as a staff incentive. Flights are a great reward for a job well done, and using the company's Business Rewards Miles is a very cost effective way to fund such incentives."

An online-based programme, Business Rewards offers SMEs the opportunity to benefit from employee flights. Each time a registered employee books their Emirates flight through Business Rewards, the business earns Business Rewards Miles while the individual traveller continues to earn their Miles from Skywards, Emirates' frequent flyer programme. The company can then redeem accumulated Business Rewards Miles against future flights.

In addition to reward miles, Emirates' Business Rewards programme also provides a convenient online portal for administrators in SMEs to manage employee travel on Emirates Airline. The company must register with Business Rewards in the country where it is located, but it can accumulate Miles for travel undertaken by employees at all their branches into one central account.