Emirates Group Partners with OpenAI to Drive AI Innovation in Aviation
Emirates Group has announced a strategic collaboration with OpenAI aimed at accelerating the adoption and integration of artificial intelligence across the airline.
The partnership will see the enterprise-wide deployment of ChatGPT Enterprise, accompanied by bespoke AI literacy programmes, technical exploration initiatives, and executive strategic alignment. The initiative is designed to embed AI capabilities across all levels of the organisation.
Ali Serdar Yakut, Executive Vice President IT at Emirates, said: “We recognise the immense potential of AI to support our business needs, address complex commercial challenges, strengthen operations, and enhance the customer experience. Working closely with OpenAI ensures that our technology investments are both strategic and scalable, allowing us to deliver greater value to our employees and customers while redefining innovation in aviation.”
Rod Solaimani, Regional Director, MENA & Central Asia at OpenAI, added: “Emirates has set out a bold vision for AI to shape the future of aviation. This collaboration enables us to bring that vision to life—embedding intelligence across operations, equipping teams with powerful tools, and reimagining the travel experience for millions of passengers.”
As part of the collaboration, Emirates and OpenAI will explore practical use cases, develop an internal AI champion network, and establish an AI Centre of Excellence. The partnership will focus on enhancing AI capabilities across critical skills, processes, and technologies to support Emirates’ journey into the next era of aviation.
Emirates will benefit from early access to pioneering AI research and emerging breakthroughs, alongside opportunities for collaboration on government-led innovation projects and accelerator programmes.
Additionally, the two organisations will conduct dedicated leadership sessions to explore practical applications of AI, foster advocacy for AI initiatives, and provide executives with insight into OpenAI’s product roadmap for long-term strategic planning.
Technology teams from Emirates and OpenAI will also collaborate to optimise the integration of OpenAI’s models, establish best practices for rapid prototyping and deployment, and provide sandbox environments to accelerate experimentation across generative AI use cases.
Committed to leading through technology and innovation, Emirates aims to deliver practical and scalable solutions that benefit passengers, communities, the wider aviation industry, and all of its brands and businesses.
