In 1980, the “Gulf Air" began to cut back its services to Dubai. As a result, Emirates was conceived in 1985 with backing from His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
On 25th October 1985, Emirates flew its first routes out of Dubai with just two aircraft-a leased Boeing 737 and an Airbus 300 B4. The inaugural flight took from Dubai bound for Pakistan’s Karachi then to Mumbai and Delhi in India.
Then as now, Emirates’ goal was quality, not quantity, and in the years since taking those first small steps onto the regional travel scene, Emirates has evolved into a globally influential travel and tourism conglomerate known the world over for its commitment to the highest standards of quality in every aspect of its business.
Though wholly owned by the Government of Dubai, Emirates has grown in scale and stature not through protectionism but through competition with the ever-growing number of international carriers that take advantage of Dubai’s open-skies policy. After making its initial start-up investment, the Government of Dubai saw fit to treat Emirates as a wholly independent business entity, and today it is thriving because the airline has recorded an annual profit in every year since its third in operation.
With a fleet of more than 200 aircrafts, Emirates currently flies to over 130 destinations in more than 60 countries around the world, and its network is expanding constantly. Over 1,000 Emirates flights depart Dubai each week on their way to destinations on six continents. In fact, Emirates flights account for nearly 40 per cent of all flight movements in and out of Dubai International Airport.
In 2001, Emirates demonstrated its confidence in the industry’s future growth by announcing the largest order in aviation history, valued at $ 15 billion. In 2005, Emirates announced the largest-ever order for the Boeing 777 family of aircraft - 42 in all – in a deal worth AED 35.7 billion ($ 9.7 billion).
This deal was followed by another deal at the 2006 Farnborough Air Show, when Emirates signed a heads of Agreement for 10 of Boeing’s new 747-8F aircraft, in a deal worth $ 3.3 billion.
At the Dubai Airshow in November 2007, Emirates announced a historic civil aviation aircraft order when it signed contracts for 120 Airbus A350s, 11 A380s, and 12 Boeing 777-300ERs, worth an estimated $ 34.9 billion in list prices. The first of A350 will be delivered in 2015. In 2010, at the Berlin Airshow, Emirates announced an order for an additional 32 Airbus A380s and in the same year, at the Farnborough Airshow, 30 more Boeing 777-300ERs were ordered. The combined value of these orders is $ 13.4 billion.
Underscoring its incredible growth, the airline is currently the world’s largest operator of both the Airbus A380 and Boeing 777.
Emirates order-book stands at more than 230 aircraft, with a total value of approximately $ 84 billion as of November 2013. In the financial year 2011/2012, Emirates carried 31.4 million passengers and 1.8 million tonnes of cargo. In addition, the company looks forward to swell its fleet to 400 aircrafts in 2030 and raise the number of its destinations which stands at 119 now.
