Amid rising global travel volumes, Emirates Airlines has recorded its busiest year ever for global baggage handling operations. Between April 2024 and March 2025, Emirates handled over 2.8 million bags monthly through its Dubai hub, equating to 100,000 bags per day on average.
The airline witnessed a 3.7% increase in baggage numbers compared to the previous year. Despite the scale of operations, Emirates maintained an extraordinary 99.9% baggage success rate from Dubai to 140 global destinations. According to Emirates, this high rate confirms its leading role in global baggage handling operations, making it the best-performing airline globally.
Baggage from Dubai, or connecting through it, almost always reaches its rightful owner on time and at the correct destination.
Statistically, Emirates records only 1.4 mishandled bags per 1,000 at its Dubai hub. This is 30 times lower than some other international operators. Furthermore, 91% of delayed bags are returned to their owners within 72 hours—an impressive figure given the complexity of international transfers.
Emirates predominantly manages international baggage, which includes longer routes, multi-leg journeys, and stricter compliance demands compared to domestic travel. This complexity makes the airline’s precision even more commendable. Yet, their systems consistently deliver smooth service for customers globally.
In addition, Emirates’ Lost and Found unit in Dubai stands out. The team recovers and returns 94% of valuable items within 60 minutes. These items, often wallets, passports, and phones, are considered essential to passenger travel and are tracked with urgency and care.
The items are found either on Emirates aircraft or within Dubai International Airport’s Terminal 3, the airline’s operational hub. To boost reliability further, Emirates introduced Bag Connect in 2024. This digital tool is available on both the airline’s website and app. Bag Connect allows users to track luggage in real time throughout its journey. It also supports monitoring for mishandled bags.
This feature is now operational in 80 international stations, giving customers timely and accurate updates on their baggage status. Within its Dubai hub, Emirates handles over 2.8 million bags monthly, but an average of 2,300 of these arrive without baggage tags. Despite this, Emirates and dnata teams work swiftly to identify the owners of these untagged bags before aircraft departure.
Impressively, 80% of these bags are successfully reunited with passengers before take-off, avoiding disruptions and missed luggage.
Occasionally, delays still happen due to uncontrollable circumstances. These include torn tags, bags falling off conveyors, or tight transfer schedules. For instance, when weather delays or passenger emergencies cause late connecting flights, a bag might miss its intended flight.
In such cases, Emirates uses a combination of systems—Dubai Airport’s Baggage Handling System, dnata’s Reconciliation System, and Emirates Bag Connect. These systems automatically assign the delayed baggage to the next available flight, ensuring swift resolution and customer satisfaction.
The carrier attributes its low mishandling rate to massive investments in technology and staff training. Its best-in-class performance stems from tailored infrastructure.
Emirates has poured millions into custom-designed software and surveillance to monitor each bag’s movement from check-in to final destination. A bag’s journey often includes several steps—moving from a porter’s trolley to a check-in agent, then to the security scan room. From there, it is loaded into a dnata baggage container and transferred via dolly to the aircraft. This cycle repeats at arrival. Behind this seamless process is a world-class team trained in both virtual and hands-on sessions across Dubai and other Emirates destinations.
Ground handlers and operational staff are equipped with process knowledge, systems understanding, and safety compliance expertise. Their constant upskilling ensures the airline’s promise of high service standards remains consistent amid growing passenger numbers. Moreover, all staff are briefed on new tools like Emirates Bag Connect, which are part of ongoing digital innovations.
This end-to-end baggage management workflow reaffirms Emirates’ position as the global benchmark in operational excellence and customer service. Collaboration is also key. Emirates, dnata, and Dubai Airports maintain seamless synergy to ensure both luggage and passengers arrive without hassle. From Dubai—one of the world’s busiest airports—Emirates connects to 140 destinations, maintaining smooth travel and cargo links across continents.
This record year proves that despite increasing operational challenges, Emirates continues to lead the global aviation sector in service delivery.
Looking forward, the airline plans to enhance current systems, adopt AI integration, and expand tracking technologies to reach even higher standards. By pushing innovation and prioritising customer experience, Emirates ensures it remains the world’s gold standard for aviation logistics and baggage handling.
