Emirates gears up for summer surge as travel demand improves

Emirates expects more than 450,000 passengers to travel through its Dubai hub next month amid a surge in demand over the summer.

The airline’s busiest days will be “the next two weekends,” and it expects to operate more than 1,600 flights over this period. High passenger traffic is expected to start on Wednesday and run through July 12, the Dubai-based carrier said in a statement.

Emirates said close to 100,000 passengers will be arriving on its flights into Dubai—the Middle East’s trade and travel hub. To accommodate the surge during the Eid holiday, the state-owned carrier is ramping up capacity to about 90% of its pre-pandemic levels. Dubai Airports reopened a terminal and concourse that were shut in March 2020.

Emirates has been hit particularly hard by the pandemic, with widespread border curbs preventing travelers to make the inter-continental journeys in which the carrier specializes. The airline has grounded most of its fleet of Airbus SE A380 superjumbos, while its Boeing Co. 777s are struggling with lower passenger loads and are transporting mainly cargo for the time being.

Emirates Group was propped up by the Dubai government with a $3.1 billion cash infusion after a collapse in long-haul travel, the airline’s main business, led to its first loss in decades.