Emirates inks strategic agreement with global tech giant, Huawei, at ATM

Emirates has announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Huawei, one of the world’s top tech brands, to further extend its existing partnership. The enhanced collaboration will allow both brands to build awareness to a wider audience in the Middle East and beyond.

The agreement was signed at Arabian Travel Market 2021 (ATM) in Dubai by Orhan Abbas, Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations – Far East at Emirates and Lu Geng, Vice President Middle East and Africa of Huawei Global Partnerships & Eco-Development, signalling the deepened strategic cooperation between Emirates and Huawei and mutual benefits in expanding their reach in China and Middle East and African markets, respectively. Also present at the signing ceremony was Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ Chief Commercial Officer and William Hu, Regional Business Development Director, Eco-Development Department, Huawei.

In addition to joint promotions designed to build brand awareness for Emirates and Huawei in the other’s home markets, the partnership will also encompass the launch of customer-centric initiatives including enhanced and engaging experiences for Huawei smart phone users while booking tickets and making travel plans on the Emirates app, available on the AppGallery – Huawei’s official distribution platform and one of the top three global app marketplaces in the world, with more than 530 million active monthly users. The joint cooperation will also see Emirates providing support for the Huawei search engine, Petal Search, on smart devices in the MEA region.

For Emirates, the integration into Huawei’s ecosystem will allow the airline to tap into a wider target audience and Huawei phone users, especially in the Chinese marketplace which has been regarded as one of the key strategic markets for Emirates worldwide.

This move was built on the successful collaboration of the two brands established in early 2020, when the Emirates app was made available on Huawei’s smart phone devices on its AppGallery, bringing users a richer and more engaging range of functions conveniently to their fingertips. The collaboration was further expanded in September 2020 with enhancements that allowed quicker bookings and other tailored functionalities that customised the mobile experience.

The MoU signed today also involves further development of the Emirates Mobile App on AppGallery. To date, the Emirates app has had more than 1 million installs from AppGallery. The AppGallery is also attracting an increasing numbers of developers with 2.3 million currently registered, a 77% increase from last year. As of March 2021, there were more than 70,000 registered developers in the Middle East and Africa region.

As part of its proposition to consumers, the airline strives to elevate its digital customer experience by leveraging cutting-edge technology, making the Emirates app a useful travel companion that ensures a seamless customer journey on the go. The Emirates app provides easy access to a range services and functions from flight search and ticket booking, to check-in, seat and meal selection, as well as Skywards account information. Innovative functions of the Emirates app also include ice playlist creation and syncing to aircraft seats prior to travel and the Airport Wayfinder for directions at Emirates’ hub, Dubai International Airport.