Emirates is marking 30 years of flying to Australia, three decades after its first service to Melbourne in June 1996, the Dubai-based airline said on October 14, 2026 .

The carrier now operates 70 weekly services across five Australian cities, connecting the country to nearly 140 destinations worldwide, according to an Emirates press release. It said it has carried more than 40 million passengers between Australia and the rest of the world.

Emirates began with three weekly flights to Melbourne. It added Sydney in 2000, Perth in 2002, Brisbane in 2003, and Adelaide in 2012.

By 2017, the airline was running three daily flights to Melbourne. From March 2018, all three were scheduled to use the Airbus A380. After services resumed following the pandemic, Emirates added a second daily A380 flight in May 2022, providing more than 1,000 seats a day between Dubai and Melbourne, it said.

“Melbourne is where our Australian story began, and it remains central to everything we do in this market,” said Barry Brown, Emirates’ Divisional Vice President Australasia.

“As we mark this milestone, our focus is firmly on what comes next. We will continue to bring our latest aircraft, our best products, and our extensive global network to Australian travellers,” he said.

Emirates said Australia has often been among the first markets to receive its newest aircraft and products. In December 2025, Adelaide became the first city in its network to receive the ultra-long-range Airbus A350. Earlier that year, Melbourne became the first Australian city to get its First Class Game Changer suites on a retrofitted Boeing 777.

Of the 70 weekly Australia-Dubai services, 56 now operate with the airline’s latest cabins, with more than 5,000 weekly Premium Economy seats across the five gateways, Emirates said.

The airline signed a commercial partnership with Qantas in 2013, which integrates networks, scheduling, pricing and frequent flyer benefits. Emirates said the alliance has carried more than 17 million passengers.

On investment, Emirates said it has put more than AU$230 million (about $150 million) into Australian sport, culture, and community, including partnerships with the Australian Open, Collingwood Football Club, and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Since 2006, it has invested AU$150 million in the Emirates Wolgan Valley Resort. A further AU$50 million, committed in 2026 in partnership with Marriott International, will convert the property into a Ritz-Carlton Lodge, which is expected to open in early 2027, it said.

The Emirates Group employs more than 8,000 people in Australia, including through its catering arm dnata, the airline said. Its operational spend in the country reached AU$1.1 billion in the 2024-25 financial year.

In the same period, Emirates carried 2.6 million passengers on Australian routes and moved 79,000 tonnes of cargo, with freight volumes increasing 12 percent year-on-year. Emirates SkyCargo operates three weekly freighter flights to Sydney.

To mark the anniversary, passengers flying from all five Australian cities will be served a special menu on board and in Emirates lounges in Australia, the airline said. It includes a Moreton Bay bug and prawn salad and seared lamb cutlets for first and business class, and chicken schnitzel and lamington for other cabins.

The figures in this report are from Emirates and have not been independently verified.

Source: PR