Birth of a Titan: Emirates' Early Years

When I first saw Emirates at London Gatwick in 1987 I would never have guessed that they would change the face of air travel and grow into a global megacarrier. Yet even in their early years they showed the spark with which they would shakeup the conservative Middle Eastern national carriers and disrupt the networks of long haul carriers like Qantas and British Airways.

Emirates Airbus A310-304 A6-EKA Aeroclassics 1:400 Scale Model Airliner

The birth of Emirates can be traced to growing dissatisfaction with Gulf Air. Nowadays only the Bahraini national carrier since 1973 when it was formed it had an ownership structure more closely associated with that of the African multi-national airline Air Afrique in that it was owned and operated for Bahrain, Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Oman. Nonetheless by 1984 Gulf Air had reduced service to Dubai and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum began to look at forming his own airline.

This UAE 727 became A6-EMB with Emirates. Photo by Tim Rees from Wikipedia.

The Sheikh partnered with Sir Maurice Flanagan, who worked at the Dubai National Air Transport Association, and provided $10 million of start-up funds. Of the two naming choices the Sheikh sensibly choose Emirates over the more prosaic Dubai Airlines. Emirates was officially launched on March 25, 1985.

A6-EMC EK's 3rd 727. Photo by Ken Fielding from Wikipedia

With the name decided upon and only limited capital available Flanagan and his team got the airline off the ground in only five months. Unable to afford to purchase its own aircraft Emirates made a deal with Pakistan International to lease an A300B4 and a 737-300 from the PIA fleet for initial operations. Both aircraft joined Emirates by October in time for the carrier’s first flight on October 25, 1985 when EK600 departed Dubai bound for Karachi.

Emirates first owned aircraft A6-EMA. Photo by Perry Hoppe from Wikipedia

New Delhi and Bombay (now Mumbai) were other inaugural destinations, the beginning of a niche connecting Dubai to the Indian subcontinent that Emirates would make its own. The airline’s first owned equipment followed in December when the Sheikh gifted a 727-200 from the Dubai Air Wing (a second would be gifted later). Aside from this Emirates had to stand on its own two feet and not rely on state support.

Emirates achieved success almost immediately and was profitable within its first year. Gulf Air meanwhile saw a 56% drop in profits and would struggle to compete against its new rival. During 1986 Emirates expanded its routes and began direct service to Amman, Colombo, Cairo and Dhaka, however with only a single widebody it badly needed new aircraft. That year was also the only in its history where it has posted a financial loss.

These arrived in 1987 in the form of a pair of brand new Airbus A310-304s just in time for them to be operated on the airline’s new route into London Gatwick. Registered A6-EKA the first arrived on July 3. The A310s are fitted out to Emirates new standards providing an inflight experience superior to its rivals.

A6-EKD at Zurich in 1995. Photo by Aero Icarus from Wikipedia

Through 1988 and 1989 Emirates adds both to its network (adding Damascus, Manila, Singapore and Bangkok) and its fleet. By the start of 1990 this stands at 3 727-200s, 2 A310s and the first new A300B4-605R (A6-EKC). From then on Airbus A310s and A300s would continue to arrive in a steady stream of a couple a year, although 1992 was a bumper year with 5 A310s joining. This is all the more impressive since the Gulf War not only brings global recession but also impacts operations from Dubai. In fact during 1991 Emirates manages to acquire slots at London Heathrow and a year later enters Paris also.

A6-EKM landing at Zurich in 2001. Photo by AeroIcarus from Wikipedia

The carrier also has a firm eye on future expansion and switches supplier to Boeing for an early order of the manufacturer’s new and yet to fly Boeing 777. Seven series 200s are ordered with another seven options taken in a $64.5 million deal. After six years of operations 25,000 passengers a week are being flown to 23 destinations.

A6-EKA landing at Gatwick in 1989. Photo by JetPix

To support Emirates growth a new terminal was opened for it at Dubai in 1992 and the airline refitted its entire fleet with in-flight entertainment in all classes. Up until that point only Virgin had done something similar and then only on one of its 747s.

As the middle of the 1990s dawned the trusty 727s left the fleet which briefly became all Airbus with 10 A310s and 6 A300s by the middle of 1995. The route network continued to expand with the first services to Africa (Nairobi and Johannesburg). The Airbuses had proven their worth in enabling Emirates to build up its network but it would be the airline’s eleventh year that saw the dawn of the second phase of Emirates growth, with the arrival of the first 777s.

The first 3 777s were baseline series 200s but the following 5 777s would be longer range series 200ERs. These introduced another new innovation as they were the first aircraft to stream live footage of their take-off and landings to the passengers onboard. The first aircraft, A6-EMD (Airbus aircraft had EK regos and Boeings EM), arrived in June 1996 and operated its first service with Emirates to Heathrow. This was followed by service to Australia beginning the erosion of British Airways and Qantas’ duopoly on the kangaroo routes.

Emirates quickly moved onto the larger 777-300 and in the triple seven found a type perfectly suited to its high-volume flights into its ever-growing Dubai hub. The A300s and A310s continued to operate lower density services but an order for 16 A330-200s in 1997 signaled their time was drawing to a close. The first aircraft left the fleet in July 1997 with most of the smaller Airbuses gone by 2002.

A6-EKL was one of the last A310s. Here she is in 2005. Photo by Konstantin von Wedelstaedt from Wikipedia

At times Emirates business model has proven controversial but often this has been a sign of other carrier’s inability to compete against it. Certainly its achievements in opening up new flight opportunities to the Middle East region during the 1980s and 1990s are impressive and provided a stepping stone from which it could begin to dominate long haul markets from its perfectly placed Dubai hub.

References
Emirates.com About US
Airlinegeeks.com Looking back at the history of Emirates
Airreview.com Emirates history
Euronews. Emirates Milestones