Emirates opens $8 million Dubai cabin crew hospitality hub to UAE businesses

Emirates announced that it is opening the Dubai hospitality training center it built for its cabin crew to companies in the UAE.

The airline said on November 9, 2026, that UAE organizations can now book courses of one to five days at its Centre of Hospitality Excellence. According to Emirates, government entities, universities and regional companies have already taken part since it began running external programs.

A US$8 million facility built for 25,000 cabin crew

Emirates unveiled the US $8 million center in October 2025 as a training facility for its roughly 25,000 cabin crew, and said at the time it expected more than 10,000 to train there by the end of that year. 

The center sits within the Emirates Crew Training Centre and includes a restaurant and lounge for up to 170 guests, presentation kitchens, eight classrooms and a training kitchen modeled partly on an aircraft galley.

The facility grew out of a 2020 partnership with Switzerland’s Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, which helped Emirates define its service approach around four values: excellence, attentiveness, innovation and passion. It opened seven months after the airline launched a 24/7 Crew Zone at its Dubai headquarters in March 2025.

Fine dining, wine and leadership modules on offer to businesses

Organizations choose from modules on hospitality fundamentals, fine dining service and etiquette, wine (taught by WSET Level 3-certified trainers), culinary techniques with Emirates chefs, team-building, and leadership sessions with Emirates executives. 

Tours of the airline’s training facilities, including its aircraft simulators, are also offered, and programs can be customized. Emirates did not disclose pricing.

Cabin crew remain the centre’s core trainees

Thomas Ney, Divisional Senior Vice President Service Delivery at Emirates, said the airline wanted to share expertise built up over decades. “Delivering exceptional hospitality requires more than technical training,” he said.

The center remains part of Emirates’ crew training. All cabin crew complete an eight-week program at the Crew Training Centre covering safety, security, medical care and service. At the hospitality center, crew are also served a four-course meal of First and Business Class dishes as guests, practice plating, and take part in a three-level wine program introduced in 2024.

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Emirates opens new Dubai facility to train 25,000 cabin crew in hospitality

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