30 years of Emirates: It started with Dubai to Karachi

Today, thirty years ago, a fledgling young airline took to the skies when flight EK 600 took off from Dubai to Karachi.

Today, thirty years ago, a fledgling young airline took to the skies when flight EK 600 took off from Dubai to Karachi. An initial fleet of wet-leased aircraft was made up of a Boeing B737-300 and an Airbus A300b4-200, both provided by Pakistan International Airlines. A further two Boeing B727-200s were then added and in business, sourced from the Dubai Air Wing and the airline, initially capitalized with a US$10 million injection from the royal family. Long-haul flights where launched in 1987, using two new Airbus A310s with the first destination being London.

Since then, Emirates has become the largest international airline, and the growth rate of fleet and destinations went into overdrive in the year 2002, when the airline operated just 43 aircraft made up of Boeing and Airbus equipment. In 2003, major new orders were announced and 12 more aircraft added. That number grew progressively, and last year, the airline added a record 26 new aircraft, all wide bodies – more than many other airlines operates in their entire fleet.

With some 268 additional aircraft on order, plus options for a further 20, Emirates has charted a course for the next decade and beyond to remain the worldโ€™s largest international airline, and when from 2025 onwards the move to the new mega airport Dubai World Central begins, the largest airline will rehome to the worldโ€™s largest airport.

This includes the largest ever order for Boeingโ€™s B777X when Emirates at the Dubai Airshow 2013 ordered 150 of these yet to be fully-developed birds, many of which when delivered will replace older aircraft, not that the average age of the fleet of 6.3 years is anything but exemplary for an airline of this size. At the same air show, Emirates also added to their Airbus A380 order with a further 50, making it the airline with the most wide-body aircraft on order and being the best spender for both Boeing and Airbus. More orders for the A380, Emirates is the largest operator of this aircraft type in the world, and may depend on the manufacturer upgrading the aircraft to an A380Neo version, as it has done with other Airbus planes like the A320 family and the A330.

Now flying from Dubai to some 164 destinations in 78 countries around the world, from February next year, when the airline adds Panama City to the network, it will operate the longest nonstop flight in the history of commercial aviation.

Parent company, the Emirates Group, a vertically-integrated operation, includes such other subsidiaries as DNATA, a major global aviation ground-handling company, Emirates Sky Cargo, Emirates Holidays, Emirates Engineering, and Emirates Flight Catering among others and has persistently turned profits contrary to constant allegations made by US and European legacy carriers about the government of Dubai subsidizing the operations.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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