Emirates scoops international awards

Emirates cemented its status as one of the best airlines in the world by scooping a number of awards at a plush ceremony held in Dubai over the weekend (May 5th).The UAE-based carrier left the Business Traveller Middle East Awards with an array of prizes, including the coveted Best Airline Worldwide gong.As well as this, the firm landed the Airline with the Best Business Class, Airline with the Best Economy Class and Best Regional Airline Serving the Middle East awards.Emirates' executive vice president of passenger sales worldwide Thierry Antinori was extremely happy to receive such recognition.”This is a superb collection of awards for Emirates,” he remarked.”In a fiercely competitive environment and under the scrutiny of Business Traveller Middle East readers, we have truly shone with our products, services and value for money.”Emirates also picked up three accolades at the World Travel Awards for the Middle East region over the weekend. The company won the Middle East's Leading Airline Business Class, Middle East's Leading Airline Rewards Programme and Middle East's Leading Airline Website awards, which further reiterates its growing dominance.In many ways, the rise of Emirates has been intertwined with the stunning growth of Dubai as a city and the company has certainly had a major part to play in the recent expansion of the emirate's international airport.Emirates continues to add new flights to different destinations around the world, which has helped Dubai become one of the best connected cities on the planet.Earlier this year, the firm launched new routes to Warsaw and Algiers, while plans are also in place to start flights to Tokyo Haneda in June, Stockholm in September and Clark International in the Philippines in October.Dubai International accommodated 57.6 million passengers in 2012 and aviation experts predict this figure to rise to around 66 million in 2013. The facility can cater for 75 million people a year thanks to a recent expansion and its total capacity is set to increase even further by the end of the decade. Taylor Scott International