Emirates

Is Emirates safe?

Yes. In more than 40 years of flying, no Emirates passenger has died in an accident, and the airline flies only modern widebody jets. Our score of 81 is below Qantas and Singapore Airlines for three reasons: the 2016 crash that destroyed a Boeing 777 at Dubai, a serious take-off incident over Dubai in 2021, and the war that reached the Gulf in 2026.

The numbers that matter:

• Passenger deaths in accidents since 1985: none.
• Hull lossesHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary: one, flight EK521 in 2016.
• Fleet: 277 aircraft with an average age of 10.8 years at 31 March 2026, according to the Emirates Group annual results.

What happened on Emirates flight EK521?

On 3 August 2016, a Boeing 777-300 from Thiruvananthapuram landed long at Dubai in hot, gusty wind. The crew started a go-around, the aircraft climbed briefly with the engines still at idle, then sank and slid back onto the runway on its belly. All 282 passengers and 18 crew escaped by the slides. A firefighter died when the centre fuel tank exploded about nine minutes later. The final report by UAE investigators, published in 2020, found that the crew started the go-around without advancing the thrust levers and did not notice that the engines had not responded.

That crash is the main reason the accident score is 79 rather than in the 90s.

On 20 October 2025, a Boeing 747 freighter flying as Emirates SkyCargo 9788 skidded off the runway in Hong Kong into a patrol car, killing two airport workers. Another company, Air ACT, operated the aircraft and crew, so we do not count it against the passenger airline.

The 2021 near-miss over Dubai

The event that worries safety specialists more than EK521 got far less attention. In the early hours of 20 December 2021, flight EK231 to Washington took off from Dubai and, instead of climbing away, held a shallow climb; flight tracking data showed the 777-300ER about 175 feet above a residential area beyond the runway end. The captain told investigators she had followed the flight director, and the aircraft never climbed faster than 800 feet a minute. The UAE's Air Accident Investigation Sector rated it a serious incident in its February 2022 preliminary report; we have found no final report. No one was hurt, but it was a reminder that automation habits, not hardware, are the main risk at a carrier like this.

The other recent enforcement case was about airspace, not aircraft. In June 2024, the US Department of Transportation fined Emirates $1.8 million because a significant number of flights carrying JetBlue's code between Dubai and the US had flown below the FAA's minimum altitude over Iraq between December 2021 and August 2022.

How old is the Emirates fleet?

All 277 aircraft are widebodies from three families: the Airbus A380, the Boeing 777 and, since late 2024, the Airbus A350. All three are fly-by-wireFly-by-wireA flight control system in which the pilot's inputs go to computers, which then move the control surfaces. Many such systems also stop unsafe manoeuvres.More in the glossary or late-generation designs with excellent records. At 10.8 years, the fleet is not as young as it used to be. Emirates kept its A380s rather than retiring them, and in 2025-26 it bought out 29 of them at the end of their leases. Nineteen A350s had arrived by March 2026, and it has about 270 Boeing 777X aircraft on order, whose delivery dates depend on Boeing's certification schedule.

A mid-life fleet is not a safety problem in itself when maintenance is heavy and well funded, and Emirates does most of its engineering in-house in Dubai. It does mean that the cabin you get on an older 777-300ER may be 15 or more years old.

Oversight and where Emirates flies

The UAE regulator, the GCAA, holds Category 1FAA IASAThe US FAA's check of whether a country's aviation regulator meets ICAO standards. Category 1 means it does; Category 2 means it does not.More in the glossary status in the FAA's International Aviation Safety Assessment, and no UAE airline is on the EU Air Safety ListEU Air Safety ListThe European Commission's list of airlines banned or restricted from flying in EU airspace because they do not meet international safety standards.More in the glossary. As an IATA member, Emirates is IOSA-registeredIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary, which IATA requires of all its members.

The operating environment is the weakest factor in 2026. After the US and Israel struck Iran on 28 February 2026, Iran fired missiles and drones at the UAE and other Gulf states, and flights across the region were disrupted. Emirates also serves many African airports and flies routes near closed or restricted airspace, where weather data, approach aids and air traffic control vary in quality.

How to fly Emirates safely

• Check the travel updates page before you leave for the airport. During regional conflict, Emirates cancels or reroutes flights at short notice; a cancelled flight is the system working.
• Keep your seat belt loosely fastened when seated. On an airline with no crash deaths, turbulence and cabin falls are the most likely ways a passenger gets hurt.
• Leave your bags in an evacuation. Video from EK521 showed passengers taking cabin bags down the slides, which slows everyone behind them.

How we scored it

The accident record (79) and an excellent fleet (86) carry the score; the operating environment (70) pulls it down because of the 2026 Gulf conflict. If the region stays calm and no new event occurs, we expect the score to rise at the next update. Compare Qantas and Singapore Airlines, the two long-haul carriers that score higher.