British travel agents have voted Emirates into the top spot for its services to the Middle East and Far East. The airline was the clear winner of the Best Scheduled Airline to the Middle East/Far East category at the prestigious Travel Weekly Globe Awards 2007, widely considered to be one of the UK’s most important travel awards ceremonies.

Emirates received almost 60 per cent of all votes cast, in the process staving off competition from other leading world-class carriers. The event was attended by key figures in the UK travel and transport industry.

Executives and business professionals in Germany continue to give Emirates their resounding thump of approval. Readers of Business Traveller magazine honoured Emirates as the Best Airline to the Middle East and Africa, for the fifth time in a row. The airline scored top marks in inflight catering, cabin crew, ground and handling services, and security – in short, every important facet held dear by discerning passengers.

Travel Weekly also recognised Emirates’ services to other parts of its network, short-listing the airline in the Best Scheduled Airline to Pacific/New Zealand/ Australia category.

Similarly, Business Traveller voted Emirates second in the category Best Airline to the Far East and the Pacific Region.

2007 has already seen Emirates reap four awards in the U.S. – Best Airline for First Class at Global Traveller’s GT Tested Awards for 2006; Best First Class in the World and Best Business Class to the Middle East from Business Traveller’s readers; and Best Airline for Flights to the Middle East in Executive Travel magazine’s 2006 Leading Edge Awards readers’ survey.

The awards are a testament to Emirates’ successful year 2006, during which it launched nine new passenger routes – Abidjan, Addis Ababa, Beijing, Hamburg, Thiruvananthapuram, Kolkata, Nagoya, Bangalore, and Tunis. The airline also increased its flights to key existing destinations in the Asia–Pacific region such as Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, and Perth. In Africa, Emirates increased its frequency to Cairo in October, and to Sudan in January 2007; and launched non-stop flights to Dar es Salaam, de-linking the service from Nairobi.

Emirates operates five flights weekly from Malta to Dubai via Larnaca, Cyprus, on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, on Airbus A330-200.