Established on the 25th of October 1985, Emirates Airlines (IATA: EK / ICAO: UAE) is the largest airline in the region of Arabia. Based at Dubai's International Airport (DXB / OMDB) Emirates operates over 2000 flight per week to over 6 continents. Part of the Emirates Group, Emirates Airlines sister subsidiaries consists of Dnata (air services / ground handling) and Emirates SkyCargo a separate division from that of Emirates Airlines.
Emirates Airlines was launched by service cut backs from Gulf Air in 1980, resulting in the launch of the airline in 1985 with a $10million start-up capital provided by the Investment Corp of Dubai. Emirates remains government owned to date, with the initial chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum reamaing at the rains, along with President Tim Clark.
The initial operation of Emirates begun on the 25th of October 1985, at the time Emirates only had a 2 aircraft strong fleet. Consisting of 1 B737-340 (AP-BCD) leased from P.I.A (Pakistan International Airlines) and 1 A300-B4200 (AP-BBM) also leased from P.I.A. Towards the end of the year, Emirates leased a further 2 aircraft from the Dubai Air Wing, both aircraft being Boeing B727-264/2K5s, with registrations A6-EMB (-264) and A6-EMC (-2K5). The initial route operated by Emirates Airlines was EK600 to Karachi, Pakistan. Further routes to India were added later that year, destinations included Delhi and Mumbai. In the initial year of operation is was reported that Emirates had carried around 260,000 passengers. With increasing demand, routes such as Dhaka, Colombo, Cairo and Amman were added in the following year, 1986.
1986 saw the return of the B737-340 (AP-BCD) to P.I.A (Pakistan International Airlines). However, further aircraft were purchased from the Dubai Government as an example. July 3rd 1987 saw the first aircraft purchased by Emirates. With registration A6-EKA, the Airbus A310-304 was to be the start of Emirates long haul operations. Starting on July 6th 1986 Emirates launched a daily non-stop service to London Gatwick (LGW / EGKK). 1987 also saw routes such as Frankfurt (via Istanbul) and Male added to the network. Flights to the Far East were launched in 1989. Initial destinations included; Bangkok, Manila and Singapore, with expansion to Hong Kong added in 1991.
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| AP-BBM, seen here at Dubai (DXB / OMDB), leased from P.I.A for the initial operation of the airline. |
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| Emirates first Airbus A310-304 (A6-EKA) seen here at Frankfurt am Main (Rhein-Main AB) (FRA / FRF / EDDF) |
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| AP-BCD, 1 of 2 aircraft that was used in the initial operation of the airline. Pictured here at Dubai (DXB / OMDB) in 1985. |
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| A6-EMB, 1 of 2 aircraft leased from the Dubai Government to help launch the airlines operations. |
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| A6-EMC, 1 of 2 aircraft leased from the Dubai Government to help launch the airlines operations. |
By the time of the early '90s, Emirates was one of the most fastest growing airlines in the world. With its revenue increasing to approximately $100Million US Dollars. In 1993 it was estimated their revenue was approaching $500Million US Dollars. That year, 1993, Emirates and its subsidiary Emirates SkyCargo had carried 1.6 million passengers and approximately 68,000 tons of cargo. With the era of the Gulf War, business and capacity increased for Emirates.
1993 also saw the offering of 'round - the -world' services by Emirates, after a partnership with US Airways was established. Prior to the partnership agreement with US Airways, Emirates had co-operation agreements with that of Cyprus Airways. The following year, 1994, the airlines fleet had grew to 15 aircraft and was connecting passengers to over 32 destinations. The end of 1994 saw record revenues posted, it was estimated the airline received $643.4Million US Dollars of revenue in 1994.
1996 would see the delivery of the new Boeing B777-21H to Emirates. The aircraft was initially used for the airlines latest destination; Melbourne (via Singapore). Later, Emirates places a larger order with Airbus. May 1998 saw Emirates Airlines pay the Government of Sri Lanka $70Million US Dollars for a 43.6% share in Sri Lankan Airlines. In 2008, Emirates ended and sold the stake back to the Sri Lankan Government for an estimated prices of $150Million US Dollars. By 2010, the airline had ended all affiliations with Sri Lankan Airlines.
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| A6-EMD, seen here at Zurich - Kloten (ZRH / LSZH) in 1998. |
The end of the year 2000 saw Emirates' initial planning of direct operations to the East and West Coast of the United States of America and also non-stop flights to destinations in Australia. 2001 saw Emirates voted Airline of the Year and by mid 2002, the airlines passenger figures had grew 18% over 6.8 million against that of the previous year.
In 2003, Emirates signed an order for 71 aircraft at an approximate cost of $19Billion US Dollars at the Paris Air Show. The order included; 21 Airbus A380-861s and 2 lease orders also for the Airbus A380-861. It was also later announced, that Emirates had placed 26 lease orders for the Boeing B777-31H(ER), 14 from GE Capital Aviation Services and 12 from the International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC). 2003 also marked the initial service to Sydney, Australia direct from Dubai, United Arab Emirates in the Airbus A340-541. In mid 2004, services to New York's JFK were added also operated by Emirates' Airbus A340-541.
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| A6-ERA operated the first flight to Sydney (SYD / YSSY) in December 2003 |
2005 saw the world's biggest order for the B777. 42 aircraft were signed in a deal with Boeing estimated to be worth $9.7Billion. Early 2006, Emirates SkyCargo signed a deal with Boeing for 10 of the newly announced B747-800Fs, a deal worth approximately $2.8Billion.
Late 2007 saw another set of massive orders placed by Emirates at the Dubai Air Show, estimated to be worth over $34.9Billion, Emirates placed orders for 120 Airbus A350s, 11 more Airbus A380s and an additional 12 Boeing B777-300ERs. That year, Emirates also began flights to São Paulo, the Brazilian capital in the B777-21H(LR). This marked the first non-stop flight between the Middle East and South America.
The Emirates Airlines passenger fleet consists of both Airbus and Boeing aircraft. Operating the largest fleet of B777s in the world, Emirates announced in 2011 that a further 50 B77W aircraft would be added to their fleet. Emirates, also has the largest order of Airbus A380s, totaling to 90 aircraft. In 2007, Emirates purchased a record breaking 130 aircraft.
