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Emirates Airlines was established to improve
international communications and with the
increasing importance of Dubai as a centre of
business and commerce in the Arabian Gulf/Middle
East Region. Emirates (EK) began operations with
two leased aircraft - an Airbus 300 and a Boeing
737-300, serving three destinations; daily
flights to Bombay and Karachi and thrice weekly
to Delhi.
Within the first year of operations, Emirates
acquired its first fully owned aircraft, a
Boeing 727. Its network expanded to include
Dhaka, Colombo, Cairo and Oman. In July 1987,
Emirates took delivery of its A310-300 and
introduced a non-stop service to London Gatwick.
In August, the second A310 was received and two
new destinations, Istanbul and Frankfurt, were
added to the network.
Since
then Emirates Airlines has grown to
become an award-winning, world-class carrier and
is now well on course to move from a small, to a
medium sized global Airline by 2003. Today, the
key aircraft in operation in Emirates fleet,
include Boeing 777-200s, Boeing 777-300s and
Airbus A330-200s. The Airline is now undergoing
a huge fleet expansion and renewal programme,
with A330s gradually replacing the older
A300-600s and A310-300s. Airbus A340-500s are
also planned for delivery during
2002/2003.During 2003/2004, four Airbus A340-500
were delivered, with the remaining four due for
delivery later this year. |