Business and luxury leisure travellers gave Emirates top honours in the annual Global Traveller’s GT Tested Awards for 2006, naming the world’s fastest-growing international airline Best Airline for First Class for the second year in a row. Global Traveller’s annual GT Tested Awards is one of the world’s most comprehensive business and leisure traveller polls, showcasing the best and brightest in airlines, hotels, destinations and travel service providers, as voted by magazine readers.

Emirates was also recently named Best First Class in the World and Best Business Class to the Middle East by Business Traveller readers in the 2006 Readers’ Choice Best in Business Travel Awards as well as Best Airline for Flights to the Middle East from Executive Travel magazine’s 2006 Leading Edge Awards readers’ survey.

“Emirates is honoured to accept these awards and to be recognised by these prestigious publications, whose readers are strong opinion-leaders within the travel industry,” said Nigel Page, Emirates Senior Vice President, the Americas. “With the recent launch of the new generation of lie-flat Business Class seats aboard our Boeing 777s, we remain committed to providing outstanding in-flight experiences to all our passengers. Customer service has always played an important role in the growth of the airline, and these awards serve as significant validation from the discerning first and business travelling community.”

From its Dubai hub, Emirates Airline currently flies to 87 destinations in 59 countries. The airline operates five flights weekly between Malta and Dubai via Larnaca in Cyprus, on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays on a comfortable wide-bodied Airbus A330-200.