The History of Emirates

It was October 1985, the 25th to be precise, that Emirates first flew out of Dubai. They had two aircraft - an on-loan Boeing 737 and an Airbus 300B4 - and it was these two flights that launched Emirates onto the international air travel scene. The main thing that has not changed in the 28 years that they have been in operation is their main attitude of quality not quantity, which has guaranteed them the position of influential, international airline conglomerate. Their business structure includes:

-    Award-winning international cargo division
-    Fully-fledged destination management and leisure division
-    Airline IT developer

Emirates is wholly owned by the Government of Dubai and after the initial investment, they decided to treat the airline company as a separate entity to and focussed on delivering extremely high standards in every aspect of their business. Dubai has an 'open skies' policy which means the competition is high but Emirates relish this challenge. The preservation of this policy means Emirates are constantly striving to maintain their identity.

The Numbers

Emirates have a fleet of 190 aircraft that fly to 130 destinations worldwide, covering six continents and in excess of 70 countries. 12000 Emirates flights leave Dubai each week and nearly 40% of all the flight movements in and out of Dubai International Airport are accounted for by Emirates. They have repeatedly broken the records for the largest aviation orders in history. In 2001 they placed an order for 58 new Airbus and Boeing aircraft valuing $15bn. 2005 brought about the first time they bettered this offer and requested 42 aircraft from the Boeing 777 family in a deal worth $9.7bn. When Boeing announced their new Boeing 747-8F aircraft powered by General Electric's GEnx jet engines, Emirates attended the Farnborough Air Show and signed a Heads of Agreement for 10 of the new aircraft, totalling a deal of $3.3bn.

In 2007 Emirates placed yet another mammoth order of contracts to 120 Airbus A350s, 11 A380s and 12 Boeing 777-300ERs worth $34.9bn in total. The agreement with Airbus had involves 50 A350-900s, 20 A350-1000s and 50 options for the A350-900s. The first A350s will be with Emirates in 2015. In June 2010, at the Berlin Air Show, Emirates ordered an additional 32 Airbus A380s and then one month later 30 Boeing 777-300ERs. The order reached a combined value of $13.4bn.

The most recent major purchase was to be the largest in Boeing's history and involved 50 Boeing 777-300ERs worth $18bn, 20 Boeing 777-300ERs options valued at an additional £8bn, so a total of 70 aircraft at $26bn.

With Emirates order log currently reading in excess of 230 aircraft their service of carrying 34 million passengers and 1.8 million tonnes of cargo in 2011-2012 articulates how influential a company they are considering their youth and modernity.

For more information on the service provided by Emirates, contact them directly via the Emirates contact number.