ATM 2025: Emirates will ‘never compromise' on quality, innovation, says airline boss

Arabian Business

30-04-2025

Emirates will 'never compromise' on service quality or innovation commitment as it expands globally, the airline's Deputy President and Chief Commercial Officer Adnan Kazim told Arabian Business in an exclusive interview.
'At Emirates, we are not going to compromise on our quality, the service on board that we give, the innovation and will always be ahead of the game,' Kazim said during the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2025 at Dubai World Trade Centre.
'[This] comes from our customer service, our offerings, from our menus, and more – we always try to innovate and come up with new ways through the services on board, or even on ground,' he added.
Emirates remains focused on Premium Economy expansion
Kazim further explained that Emirates is focusing this year on its Premium Economy product.
'ATM, so far as we announced, was focusing around the Premium Economy routes that we mentioned. We announced already eight routes. This is part of the strategy of the company to ramp up and do even more in this particular domain,' he said.
'Today, we have 1 million seats that we offer in Premium Economy cabins. We have 51 aircrafts already retrofitted. This number will increase to 66 destination… by end of the calendar year 2025 [we] will increase the number of seats deployed to 2 million seats, which is coming from the retrofit programme of the Airbus 380 and the Boeing 777.'
In addition, Kazim further revealed that the airline is also focusing on sustainability and digital transformation, with plans to highlight its efforts at ATM using immersive experiences.
'We are focusing on sustainability and our core initiatives, while showcasing through VR how we are creating a more seamless passenger experience at the airport—through biometrics, online and mobile check-in, and the integrated tunnel and gate system.'
Aside from this, Kazim gave a glimpse into Emirates' progress towards implementing the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) 'One Order' system, aimed at simplifying the customer experience across the travel journey.
'This is definitely as our focus for the future, which is, we call it the one order. This is driven by IATA, and this is a road map that we are working in towards achieving it. But that is the end game, I would say.'
Kazim explained that before reaching the one order requirement, Emirates must 'address' numerous challenges through technology, AI, and system enhancements.
The airline's team is 'focused' on implementing these changes throughout the company, which involve multiple layers of transformation needed to achieve this level of integration.
The customer journey extends beyond booking to include all 'touch points' that must fulfill these requirements.
'Too early' to talk about DWC expansion; DXB continues to remain 'home base'
On Emirates' future move to Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC), Kazim said the transition is still years away.
'I think it is too early to talk about Al Maktoum [International Airport], because we are talking about at least eight to ten years from now. Still, our home base remains at DXB, which is Dubai Airport, for eight years to come—and still would need to expand within this domain.'
'Our mapping of the fleet—more than 319 aircraft ordered to date—will be deployed primarily at DXB,' he said adding that this expansion will involve both the introduction of additional aircrafts and the phasing out of older models in the airline's fleet.
Competition 'generates new opportunities'
As for how Emirates stays ahead in an increasingly competitive industry, Kazim said: 'We do welcome competition. This is quite healthy—it generates new opportunities.'
He also highlighted the airline's investment in customer-facing infrastructure, including retail. 'We open today 11 retail shops to even be getting closer to the consumer in terms of the product offering, with a new, modern look and feel that we introduced and combined with technology around these retail shops.'