Happy anniversary, Emirates…

Emirates, one of the best airlines in the world celebrated its 37th anniversary on October 25.

His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates’ Chairman and Chief Executive shared the occasion on his official Twitter account highlighting the event.

image gallery
image gallery
nav left 3 of 12 nav right
image gallery
image gallery

emirates airlines first flight

emirates airlines first flight

’37 years ago today, Emirates started its journey with flights to Karachi and Mumbai.’ he said adding that though the airline was small back then, it had large ambitions.

He also tweeted to the entire Emirates family – past and present giving ‘eternal thanks for the hard work, perseverance, and passion that has made us who we are today. The journey towards greatness never stops.’

Where it all began…

Back in 1984, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum who was the UAE Minister of Defence at the time and a member of Dubai’s progressive royal family, asked Sir Maurice Flanagan – who was the managing director of dnata, to look into starting an airline.

A business plan was created by December and the name ‘Emirates’ was chosen.

Over the next few months in 1985, Maurice Flanagan had a major mission to launch an airline in five months. He succeeded and on October 25, 1985 Emirates made its first flight from Dubai to Karachi and Mumbai.

In its first five years of operations, Emirates grew its network to 14 destinations which included Delhi, Dhaka, Amman, Istanbul, Frankfurt, Jeddah, Kuwait, etc. By the turn of the millennium, the airline had grown its global network to 50 destination cities with 46 routes added from 2000 to 2010 and 54 routes added from 2010 to 2019. In 2020, Emirates was named the largest international airline. 

Fun fact: Emirates was the first airline to install video systems in all seats, in every cabin class throughout its fleet. This was back in 1992.

Happy Anniversary, Emirates!

To know more about Emirates’ journey, visit emirates.com

Images: Twitter