Dubai-based carrier Emirates have entered into a partnership with tech firm OpenAI to accelerate AI adoption across the airline’s entire value chain.
ChatGPT Enterprise will be deployed across Emirates’ operations, while OpenAI also collaborate with staff on AI literacy programmes and technical exploration. An AI Centre of Excellence will help identify use cases and strengthen native AI capabilities.
Ali Serdar Yakut, Executive Vice President IT at Emirates, said:
We see enormous potential for AI technology to support our business requirements, helping us tackle complex commercial challenges, strengthening our operations, and enhancing the customer experience. Closely working with OpenAI will make our technology investments both strategic and scalable, enabling us to deliver enhanced value to our employees and customers, fundamentally changing how we innovate, deliver value, and maintain our competitive edge in the industry.
Estimated to be worth as much as US$500 billion, OpenAI has rapidly become one of the world’s most valuable companies, largely thanks to its ground-breaking ChatGPT large language model (LLM). The partnership with Emirates gives OpenAI a sandbox for new AI use cases, including furthering the potential of generative AI.
Rod Solaimani, Regional Director, MENA & Central Asia at OpenAI said:
Emirates Group has laid out a bold vision for how AI can transform the future of aviation. With this collaboration, we’re proud to help them bring that vision to life – embedding intelligence across their operations, empowering teams with powerful new tools, and reimagining the travel experience for millions of customers.
The announcement follows a string of technology investments that aim to consolidate Emirates’ position as the best airline in the world. New biometrics processes introduced at the airline’s hub at Dubai International (DXB) now allow passengers to pass through the airport document-free. Earlier this month, Emirates also announced that they would providing all passengers with high-speed WiFi through Starlink, thereby creating the world’s largest fleet of Starlink-connected aircraft.
OpenAI have been extending their reach into the travel industry throughout 2025, including through a strategic partnership with Singapore Airlines. Additionally, the company launched its Atlas browser tool in October, which can browse and book travel independently.
Join us at Aviation Festival Asia 2026, where Dirk Jungnickel, SVP Enterprise Analytics & Intelligence for Emirates, will discuss the airline’s AI implementation strategy.
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