Skip to main content

Emirates rated Best Airline in the World at ULTRAs 2024 awards

Emirates awarded as the world's best airline

By Mark Reif Published November 11, 2024

emirates best airline award widebody airplanes — Emirates wide-body aircraft Emirates

At the recent 2024 ULTRAs Awards, Emirates was recognized as the Best Airline in the World. Ultratravel — a luxury travel media brand — has held the awards since 2007, highlighting industry leaders across numerous categories. This year’s invite-only awards show took place at Kensington Palace in London, with luxury travel company managers and well-known travelers in attendance.

How Emirates earned the top spot at the 2024 ULTRAs

Emirates first-class dining Emirates

The Ultratravel publication reaches about 1.2 million readers. The ULTRAs awards consider the opinions of active and affluent travelers across the globe, who vote across many categories. This year, Emirates continued its recent run of awards, like Telegraph Travel’s “World’s Best Airline” and The Times and Sunday Times Travel Awards “Best Airline”.

Recommended Videos

Emirates keeps investing in improving the experience for its passengers. Last year alone, the airline performed a $4 billion renovation across eight aircraft, with refreshed interiors for five Boeing 777s and three Airbus A380s. The airline also spent $11 million on new premium lounges at Jeddah and London Stansted. The current lounge at Paris Charles De Gaulle also received an upgrade.

Sir Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airline, commented: “We’re delighted to be recognised as ‘Best Airline in the World’ by the prestigious ULTRAs. Our investments in product and services, in our people, training and technology, all aim to elevate the travel experience at every step of the journey so our customers truly ‘fly better’, and we’ll always work hard to raise the bar for them. Our multi-billion dollar nose-to-tail refurbishment programme will see over 200 aircraft receive fully refreshed interiors that will take the Emirates experience to even greater heights. Thank you to our loyal customers, and we’ll keep moving forward at pace to offer the very best in international air travel.”

Mark Reif is a storyteller focused on the intersection of outdoor culture, travel, and design. From the peaks of Banff to the…

Travel

Savannah Beyond the Postcard

Take a look at one of the greatest southern cities from a different perspective.

Architecture, Building, Spire

Savannah is one of those cities that seems almost too easy to like. The live oaks are dramatic. The Spanish moss does exactly what it is supposed to do. The brick sidewalks buckle in all the right places. The houses look like they were designed by people who understood proportion, shade, and the value of a proper front step. Even the light seems to arrive with better manners than it does in most places.

I have a built-in advantage when it comes to Savannah. We have family there, so we have been back several times, not just once for the checklist version of the city. I have also done a photography workshop there, which is a terrific way to learn any city. You get up early, stay out late, and pay attention to alleys, doorways, ironwork, reflections, and the way a city changes when the tourists are still asleep.

Travel

I spent 72 hours in London with only a carry-on. Here’s how I did it in style

Luxury travel doesn't require a checked bag

London

Somewhere between the baggage claim carousel and the Elizabeth Line, I realized I'd already won. As passengers from my Norwegian flight to London crowded around the conveyor belt waiting for checked luggage to appear, I was already on my way into the city. Twenty minutes later, I was headed toward central London with nothing more than a carry-on suitcase and a backpack. I've become a bit of a carry-on evangelist over the past few years. Not because I'm trying to prove some minimalist point or because I enjoy seeing how few shirts I can survive with. I just genuinely think it's the better way to travel, especially for a long weekend in Europe.

My recent 72-hour trip from Copenhagen to London wasn't exactly a backpacker's itinerary. It included a stay at one of London's nicest luxury hotels, rooftop cocktails, dinners worth dressing up for, and plenty of walking through Soho, Covent Garden, and the rest of central London. Somehow, everything I needed fit inside my Travelpro Platinum Elite Slim Cabin Hardshell Spinner V2, with a backpack holding my flight essentials.

Travel

This New Montana Hotel Captures the Poetry of the Open Road

Helena's newest boutique hotel revives the spirit of the classic roadside motel.

Corner, Home Decor, Bed

In case you need another excuse for a Montana getaway this summer, a quirky new boutique hotel has opened in Helena, the Treasure State's capital. The Bell Hotel occupies the site of the former Bell Motel, a classic 1950s roadside lodge thoughtfully reimagined by CWG Architecture. Each of its 14 rooms features locally made chocolates, coffee, and artwork. While in town, ask the front desk about the Bell's Picnic in the Park package. The hotel supplies a basket of local treats and a blanket; Montana provides the sublime scenery and glorious weather. You're on your own for companionship.

Hannah honey was a peachy kind of girl /Her eyes were hazel and her nose was slightly curved /We spent a lonely night at the Memory Motel- The Rolling Stones