Emirates has marked 30 years of flying to Australia with a Melbourne celebration and a special anniversary menu inspired by local produce, rolling out across its flights and airport lounges nationwide.
The celebration, held at the State Library Victoria and attended by Karryon, marked three decades since the airline’s first Australian service touched down in Melbourne in June 1996. The milestone comes as Emirates operates 70 weekly services across five Australian gateways, connecting travellers to nearly 140 destinations worldwide.
Available during the month of October, the anniversary menu puts an Australian spin on the occasion.
First and Business Class passengers can tuck into Moreton Bay bug, prawn and crabmeat salad, seared lamb cutlets with salsa verde and meringue with Chantilly cream, passion fruit and berries.
Premium Economy and Economy passengers will get freekeh salad with smoked salmon, chicken schnitzel with tomato-basil sauce and potato gratin, followed by a lamington.
The menu will be available on flights from Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide, as well as in Emirates’ Australian airport lounges.
EK’s 2026 Australia anniversary menu.
Three decades Down Under
The celebrations also offer a chance to reflect on how far the airline’s Australian operation has come since that first Melbourne service.
Emirates added Sydney in 2000, Perth in 2002, Brisbane in 2003 and Adelaide in 2012.
Melbourne then grew to three daily services by 2017, with all three flights operated by A380 aircraft from March 2018.
“Melbourne is where our Australian story began, and it remains central to everything we do in this market,” Emirates Divisional Vice President Australasia Barry Brown remarked.
Emirates’ Barry Brown at the celebration.(Image Aaron Walker Photography)
Beyond the runway
Brown said the airline’s Aussie presence extended further than flights, pointing to investment in sport, culture and communities, as well as trade links and jobs. Emirates says it has invested more than $230 million in Australian sport, culture and community initiatives.
Its local operation has also been a launchpad for new products. Melbourne became the first Australian city to welcome Emirates’ First Class Game Changer suites when a retrofitted Boeing 777 entered service in 2025. In December that year, Adelaide then became the first city in the airline’s global network to receive its ultra-long-range A350.
Emirates’ Melbourne celebration. (Image Aaron Walker Photography)
EK’s Melbourne party. (Image Aaron Walker Photography)
The airline’s 2013 partnership with Qantas has also expanded travel options through coordinated networks and connections beyond Australia’s international gateways.
Currently, 56 of Emirates’ 70 weekly Australia–Dubai services feature its latest-generation products and refreshed cabins, offering more than 5,000 Premium Economy seats each week across the five gateways.
KARRYON UNPACKS: Three decades in Australia is a significant milestone, but nostalgia only goes so far. Can Emirates keep earning Australian travellers’ loyalty as competition, premium expectations and value-for-money pressures intensify?
Emirates marks 30 years of flying to Australia in Melbourne. (Image Kirstie Bedford / Karryon)