Emirates chairman discusses collaboration with PayPal leadership team

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group, held talks with President of Global Markets at PayPal, Suzan Kereere, to collaborate within the dynamic digital payments landscape.

During the meeting, Emirates and PayPal discussed opportunities to build on their 15-year relationship.

Emirates currently offers PayPal on its website in 34 countries, offering customers simplified, fast and secure checkout when locking in their travel.

The airline has seen a marked increase in customer adoption, usage frequency and transaction volumes with PayPal in the last year.

PayPal recently opened its first-ever regional headquarters in Dubai to serve the Middle East and Africa, with the aim to support more consumers and businesses across emerging economies advance their commerce capabilities and help businesses of all sizes sell across borders.

Dubai is rapidly emerging as a global fintech hub, leveraging its strategic location, business-friendly policies, and strong financial infrastructure. Dubai has attracted major fintech players, as well as nurtured homegrown startups. The city has also set up fintech accelerators and clusters along with ‘sandboxes’ that allow startups to test innovations.

In a statement shared on social media platform X, Sheikh Ahmed highlighted the alignment between Dubai’s digital ambitions and PayPal’s global expertise.

“Our discussions reaffirmed a shared commitment to supporting Emirates’ ambitious vision,” he said. “With Dubai at the forefront of digital transformation, we look forward to driving meaningful growth through impactful collaboration.”

The meeting comes as Dubai accelerates its D33 Agenda, an initiative aimed at positioning the emirate as a global hub for innovation and the digital economy.