With a roar of twin jet engines, the Airbus 300 in its unfamiliar livery cleared the runway at Dubai International Airport and climbed steadily east over the Arabian Gulf towards its destination in Pakistan.
It was just after 11.45am on Friday, October 25, 1985, and Emirates airline had begun its first flight. The relatively modest beginnings of the airline 40 years ago may be hard to believe these days. Having started with two aircraft and operating flights to Karachi and Mumbai only, the airline now flies to more than 150 destinations and has a fleet of nearly 270 planes.
The airline soared out of a sense of frustration within the UAE's aviation sector. Gulf Air, the carrier owned at the time by a partnership of Gulf powers, had cut back on services to Dubai just as the city’s economy was expanding.
In 1984, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, who was Minister of Defence at the time, spoke to Maurice Flanagan, who at the time was managing director of dnata, the travel agency and airport services company for Dubai.
Could he create a new airline in a matter of months and with starting capital of only $10 million? The mission statement was for the airline to “look good, be good, and make money". Could he deliver? The answer, as the world now knows, was a resounding yes.
Two aircraft were leased from Pakistan International Airlines. The airbus and a Boeing 737 were repainted with the Emirates logo and a tail design in the colours of the UAE flag.
Emirates picked Karachi and Mumbai as its initial destinations. Short-haul flights to the Indian subcontinent were sure to be popular – and profitable, as a result – given the demographics of Dubai.
Flight EK 600, which still operates today under the same code, left exactly on time at 11.45am, after a ribbon-cutting ceremony. It carried 11 crew members, including four women, wearing the now familiar uniforms.
The passengers, who included dignitaries and senior airline staff, were issued with paper tickets and had a baggage allowance of 20kg. The price of a return ticket in economy was about Dh1,500 ($408). Shortly afterwards, the second aircraft took off for Mumbai.
Pakistan International Airlines provided the flight crew, including Capt Fazle Ghani, who died in October 2021, and co-pilot Capt Ejaz ul Haq. Both men joined the flight as part of an agreement to launch Emirates that included ground crew and engineers, as well as a deal to train pilots for Emirates.
The two-hour flight to Karachi was uneventful, with passengers greeted with flower garlands, before making the return trip later that day. The first Emirates flight to land at Dubai arrived at 5pm and Flanagan, who was on board for both legs, declared the airline had enjoyed a promising start.
Capt Ghani said the crew faced only one minor problem, with some of the pilots’ hats being too large for their heads. "They looked quite funny," he added.
“We pushed back and took off on time and this signalled a great achievement for the airline in such a short period of time,” he said as the airline marked its 30th year in 2015. “I was blessed to be with very competent professionals to lay the foundation of Emirates.”
40 years of Emirates - in pictures
If you go
The flights
Etihad flies direct from Abu Dhabi to San Francisco from Dh5,760 return including taxes.
The car
Etihad Guest members get a 10 per cent worldwide discount when booking with Hertz, as well as earning miles on their rentals. A week's car hire costs from Dh1,500 including taxes.
The hotels
Along the route, Motel 6 (www.motel6.com) offers good value and comfort, with rooms from $55 (Dh202) per night including taxes. In Portland, the Jupiter Hotel (https://jupiterhotel.com/) has rooms from $165 (Dh606) per night including taxes. The Society Hotel https://thesocietyhotel.com/ has rooms from $130 (Dh478) per night including taxes.
More info
To keep up with constant developments in Portland, visit www.travelportland.com. Good guidebooks include the Lonely Planet guides to Northern California and Washington, Oregon & the Pacific Northwest.
Countries recognising Palestine
France, UK, Canada, Australia, Portugal, Belgium, Malta, Luxembourg, San Marino and Andorra
Zayed Sustainability Prize
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Take Me Apart
Kelela
(Warp)
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Etihad (etihad.com) flies from Abu Dhabi to Mykonos, with a flight change to its partner airline Olympic Air in Athens. Return flights cost from Dh4,105 per person, including taxes.
Where to stay
The modern-art-filled Ambassador hotel (myconianambassador.gr) is 15 minutes outside Mykonos Town on a hillside 500 metres from the Platis Gialos Beach, with a bus into town every 30 minutes (a taxi costs €15 [Dh66]). The Nammos and Scorpios beach clubs are a 10- to 20-minute walk (or water-taxi ride) away. All 70 rooms have a large balcony, many with a Jacuzzi, and of the 15 suites, five have a plunge pool. There’s also a private eight-bedroom villa. Double rooms cost from €240 (Dh1,063) including breakfast, out of season, and from €595 (Dh2,636) in July/August.
The biog
Occupation: Key marker and auto electrician
Hometown: Ghazala, Syria
Date of arrival in Abu Dhabi: May 15, 1978
Family: 11 siblings, a wife, three sons and one daughter
Favourite place in UAE: Abu Dhabi
Favourite hobby: I like to do a mix of things, like listening to poetry for example.
Favourite Syrian artist: Sabah Fakhri, a tenor from Aleppo
Favourite food: fresh fish
If you go
The flights
There are various ways of getting to the southern Serengeti in Tanzania from the UAE. The exact route and airstrip depends on your overall trip itinerary and which camp you’re staying at.
Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Kilimanjaro International Airport from Dh1,350 return, including taxes; this can be followed by a short flight from Kilimanjaro to the Serengeti with Coastal Aviation from about US$700 (Dh2,500) return, including taxes. Kenya Airways, Emirates and Etihad offer flights via Nairobi or Dar es Salaam.
SPEC SHEET
Display: 6.8" edge quad-HD dynamic Amoled 2X, Infinity-O, 3088 x 1440, 500ppi, HDR10 , 120Hz
Processor: 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1/Exynos 2200, 8-core
Memory: 8/12GB RAM
Storage: 128/256/512GB/1TB
Platform: Android 12
Main camera: quad 12MP ultra-wide f/2.2, 108MP wide f/1.8, 10MP telephoto f/4.9, 10MP telephoto 2.4; Space Zoom up to 100x, auto HDR, expert RAW
Video: 8K@24fps, 4K@60fps, full-HD@60fps, HD@30fps, super slo-mo@960fps
Front camera: 40MP f/2.2
Battery: 5000mAh, fast wireless charging 2.0 Wireless PowerShare
Connectivity: 5G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC
I/O: USB-C
SIM: single nano, or nano and SIM, nano and nano, eSIM/nano and nano
Colours: burgundy, green, phantom black, phantom white, graphite, sky blue, red
Price: Dh4,699 for 128GB, Dh5,099 for 256GB, Dh5,499 for 512GB; 1TB unavailable in the UAE
The Greatest Royal Rumble card as it stands
50-man Royal Rumble
Universal Championship Brock Lesnar (champion) v Roman Reigns in a steel cage match
Intercontinental Championship Seth Rollins (champion) v The Miz v Finn Balor v Samoa Joe
SmackDown Tag Team Championship The Bludgeon Brothers (champions) v The Usos
Casket match The Undertaker v Chris Jericho
John Cena v Triple H
Matches to be announced
WWE World Heavyweight Championship, Raw Tag Team Championship, United States Championship and the Cruiserweight Championship are all due to be defended
Honeymoonish
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Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
