SINGAPORE, 30 September 2024: Emirates and the Museum of the Future have revealed details of the agenda and speaker lineup for the Aviation Future Week, which will take place from 15 to 17 October in Dubai.

Emirates Airline Deputy President and CEO Adel Al Redha said: “We have an incredible lineup of over 30 speakers and experts from across aviation and aerospace, airfreight and logistics, Maintenance, Overhaul & Repair (MRO); heavy hitters from different corners of the tech industry as well as academics, reflecting the broad range of topics that Aviation Future Week will cover. Participants can look forward to an agenda that promises to deliver insightful discussions, informative panel sessions, and interactive workshops, delving deep into topics that are at the top of their minds for the future of our industry.” 

His Excellency Khalfan Belhoul, Chief Executive Officer at Dubai Future Foundation, said: “Aviation Future Week serves as a pivotal platform to highlight the latest advancements and opportunities within the aviation sector.

His Excellency added: “Both Emirates and the Museum of the Future seek to host global discussions shaping this critical industry’s future. Moreover, this event aims to support the integration of advanced technologies in enhancing service efficiency and craft growth strategies for the aviation sector in both the short and the long term.”

Day 1

Aviation Future Week’s first day spotlights the passenger journey and addresses operational challenges amidst a backdrop of strong global demand. His Excellency Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri, UAE Minister of Economy, will headline the opening, followed by a keynote by His Excellency Dr Thani Bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade. Abdel Wahab Teffaha, Arab Air Carriers Organization (AACO) Secretary General, will then touch on balancing traffic demand with innovative passenger solutions and elevated on-ground experiences.

The first panel will focus on optimising traffic demand in an environment of saturated airports and constrained supply chains. Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer of flydubai; Adel Al Ali, Chief Executive Officer Air Arabia and Wouter Van Wersch, Executive Vice President of Airbus International will kickstart the dialogue around their long-term vision for air traffic capacity.

Werner Vogels, Amazon’s Chief Technology Officer, will participate in a fireside chat to discuss the company’s approach to automation, biometrics and real-time data, aimed at creating seamless passenger journeys.

Airport leaders, including HE Khalifa Al Zaffin, Executive Chairman Dubai Aviation City Corporation; Ayman AboAbah, CEO Riyadh Airports; Server Aydın, Chief Digital Services and Commercial Officer at iGA Istanbul Airport; Omar Binadai, Chief Technology and Infrastructure Officer at Dubai International and  Nicolas Vandable, Head of Airline Relations, Projects & Development, Director Smart Airport Programmes at Paris-CDG Airport will tackle the topic of airport infrastructure modernisation and the next wave of future technologies promising a frictionless on-ground experience.  

Participants will hear about the future of aircraft cabins and onboard connectivity and communications from CEOs at Recaro, Thales, Panasonic Avionics and Viasat.

Day 2

The second day of Aviation Future Week will delve into airfreight and logistics and MRO developments in the region. The day will begin with a fireside chat featuring His Excellency Khalfan Belhoul, who will shed light on Dubai Future Foundation’s key role in driving the future of aviation and logistics in Dubai. This will be followed by a focus on the dynamic global landscape of freight and logistics and factors impacting demand, as well as digitisation, to be discussed with Nadeem Sultan, Senior Vice President Cargo Planning & Freighters at Emirates; Ram Menen, founding team member at Emirates SkyCargo and Hamdi Osman, Chairman and CEO Solitaire Group.

Confirmed speakers from Rolls Royce, GE Aerospace, Safran Cabin, Jamco and Joramco will also unpack efforts underway around sharpening the precision and effectiveness of MRO in the region through next generation technologies.

Day 3

The third and final day will navigate the nascent potential of Web3, AI and XR to drive workflow efficiencies and optimise service delivery for the industry. 

The first panel will explore customer feedback strategies using automation and utilising insights to make data-informed decisions with the aim of enhancing service levels. Senior executives leading digital and innovation teams at Avis Budget Group, Emirates Skywards, Etihad Airways and Vision-Box will share how they are scaling up their customer experience strategies. 

The final panel includes academics at Manchester Metropolitan University, as well as Microsoft Solutions, Whoop and Emirates’ HR leadership who will share their experiences and outline potential use-cases around combining the power of XR and Gen AI to streamline aviation workflows.

Spaces are limited to attend panel sessions. For more information about Aviation Future Week, including registration details, visit https://aviationfutureweek.ae/.
For information on the airline or to make a booking, visit www.emirates.com.

DUBAI, 27 September 2024: Emirates is adding a fourth daily flight on the in-demand route to bring even more choice, connectivity, and premium travel options to Johannesburg. 

This follows the announcement of the second daily A380 between Dubai and Johannesburg, launched on 1 September. This reaffirms South Africa’s importance to the airline’s extensive global network. 

The fourth daily service will begin on 1 March 2025 and will be operated on a three-class Boeing 777-300ER. It will offer an additional 708 seats in and out of South Africa’s largest and busiest international airport every day, broadening options for leisure and business travellers alike. 

Flight EK767 will depart Dubai at 0010, arriving in Johannesburg at 0620. 
Flight EK768 will depart Johannesburg at 1015, arriving in Dubai at 2015.

It expands the airline’s schedule to introduce a morning departure from Johannesburg. 

Emirates Deputy President and Chief Commercial Officer Adnan Kazim, said: “South Africa has long been a highly popular destination for leisure and business travellers connecting to and through Dubai, and the fourth daily flight enables us to serve better the growing demand for travel to and from the market. We want to thank the South African authorities for their partnership and support in securing this new service, which reinstates the capacity we offered South Africa pre-pandemic, with 49 weekly flights across three gateways. As we reflect on nearly three decades of operations in the market, we remain committed to driving inbound travel to South Africa, supporting the government as they aim to make tourism the leading economic contributor and vehicle for transformation, and encouraging more inwards investment to the country.” 

The fourth daily flight further supports connectivity across Emirates’ global network of over 140 destinations, optimising schedules to key destinations including Dubai, Thailand, and India, as well as European hotspots such as the UK, France, the Netherlands, and Germany. 

Customers taking advantage of the expanded Emirates schedule to Johannesburg can reach a further 60 regional points in Africa via codeshare and interline agreements with four key partners. 

Emirates and South African Airways first established a codeshare arrangement in 1997, and it remains one of the oldest partnerships in the airline’s history, enabling frictionless, single-ticket travel to and from all three South African gateways, including 12 destinations via Johannesburg. Unlocking greater connectivity, 

Emirates’ codeshare with Airlink opens up 44 regional cities, while its interline agreement with Cemair provides access to exclusive leisure points such as Margate and Plettenberg Bay. Similarly, the agreement with FlySafair enables travel to domestic points such as Port Elizabeth, East London and George. 

These partnerships provide greater connectivity for passengers across Africa to access Emirates’ world-class products and services while also enabling international travellers to explore more of Africa seamlessly. 

In addition to enhancing passenger travel, the new flight increases cargo capacity in and out of South Africa, offering 300 tonnes via the belly of the Boeing 777 weekly. Emirates SkyCargo, the airline’s freight division, uplifts key commodities, including fresh fruit and vegetables, chilled meat, dairy, seafood and fresh cut flowers, further stimulating the economy and connecting South African businesses with their global customers quickly, reliably and efficiently. The new flight provides additional opportunities to move goods to key destinations, such as London, Madrid, Kuwait, Hong Kong and, of course, Dubai, via the airline’s multi-vertical specialised product portfolio.  

In the last 29 years, Emirates has established itself as a long-term partner of South African aviation, tourism and trade since the inaugural flight to Johannesburg in June 1995. Since then, the airline has scaled operations, increased frequencies and gateways to Cape Town and Durban and served over 20 million passengers to and from the market. In October 2011, Emirates first deployed its flagship A380 to Johannesburg, bringing the airline’s world-class products and services to South Africa, and now offers two daily flights from Johannesburg on the iconic double-decker aircraft. 

For airline information and to book a flight, visit www.emirates.com.