Emirates has begun accepting cryptocurrency payments for flights. On July 28, the airline launched Crypto.com Pay on its website and mobile app, allowing customers with a Crypto.com account to pay for tickets directly from their digital wallets.

The option is available to eligible UAE residents for bookings priced and settled in Emirati dirham (AED). It appears at checkout on emirates.com and in the Emirates App, with transactions processed in line with UAE regulatory standards. The rollout turns a partnership the two companies signed in July 2025 into a live product in less than a year, giving another large travel brand a way to test whether digital assets can fit into mainstream booking flows.

"Bringing this initiative to life delivers on our commitment to expanding customer choice in how they pay for travel," said Adnan Kazim, Emirates' deputy president and chief commercial officer. He said the airline was also targeting "a younger, digitally fluent generation who manage their money and plan their journeys primarily from their phones."

Eric Anziani, president and chief operating officer of Crypto.com, called the deal "a milestone for Crypto.com and our Pay feature," and credited the UAE's "forward thinking approach to innovation."

Emirates' scale

Emirates is the world's largest long-haul international airline and, according to its own results, the most profitable.

For the financial year ended March 31, 2026, the airline reported a record profit of AED 19.7 billion, or about $5.4 billion, on record revenue of roughly $41 billion. It carried 53.2 million passengers during the period. The wider Emirates Group posted a record profit of AED 24.4 billion, or around $6.6 billion.

Founded in 1985 and owned by the Investment Corporation of Dubai, Emirates operates a fleet of about 277 wide-body aircraft serving more than 140 destinations. It is the largest operator of both the Airbus A380 and Boeing 777. At the 2025 Dubai Airshow, the airline committed an additional $41.4 billion to new aircraft.

Emirates has built its brand around premium service, with A380s offering first-class shower spas, a lounge and bar for premium passengers, and private first-class suites, alongside chauffeur-driven airport transfers.

How the payment process works

On mobile, customers booking in the Emirates App are redirected to the Crypto.com app to approve payment from their wallet, then returned to Emirates to receive confirmation and an e-ticket.

On desktop, customers select Crypto.com Pay, scan a QR code on the booking page, and approve the payment in the Crypto.com app. Emirates receives payment in AED, while the crypto side is handled within the Crypto.com account.

For travelers, the setup matters less as a headline than as part of the booking experience: the airline says payments are integrated into its existing checkout flow rather than requiring a separate payment channel. That makes the launch a practical test of whether crypto can be used as a familiar consumer option inside a regulated airline sales process.

Dubai's crypto and fintech push

The launch aligns with the UAE's effort to establish itself as a crypto and fintech hub.

The integration runs through Crypto.com's Dubai entity, which the company says was the first Virtual Asset Service Provider to receive a Stored Value Facilities licence from the Central Bank of the UAE, the approval that allows it to handle payments.

It also fits into Dubai's Cashless Strategy under the D33 economic agenda, which aims to make 90% of all transactions across government and private sectors digital by the end of 2026. Crypto.com is expanding its retail app to UAE customers with more than 250 cryptocurrencies available and has separately partnered with Dubai Finance to accept digital payments for government services.

This story was originally published by TheStreet on Jul. 28, 2026, where it first appeared in the Markets section.