Emirates' unrelenting progress towards being a global airline saw Commercial Operations opening new services to Bangalore, Beijing, Nagoya and Tunis. In addition, frequency and capacity were increased on many other routes, notably a second daily service to Zurich and Düsseldorf, and a third daily flight to New York, via Hamburg. Emirates also moved into new offices in Paris, Athens, Addis Ababa, Tunis, Khartoum, Riyadh, Al Ain, and Dubai town centre.

The airline's capacity grew by 22.8 per cent, with a seat factor of 76.2 per cent and an average fleet age of 63 months.

In line with IATA's 'Simplifying the Business' initiative, aimed at achieving 100 per cent e-ticketing by all airlines worldwide by the end of 2007, Emirates is well positioned, with 65 per cent of all ticketing transactions already electronic.