Airline

Introduction to the Organization

1.1 A Brief History of Emirates

In 1974, three years after independence, the rulers of the UAE decided to establish a joint flag carrier: Gulf Air. However, a tense relationship between the airline and the Dubai government existed ever since its inception, as the latter re fused to give in to Gulf Air’s demands to abandon its open-skies policy. In reaction, Gulf Air reduced frequencies and capacities to and from Dubai by more than two thirds between 1984 and 1985 without advance notice (Wilson 2005). Since foreign carriers proved unable or unwilling to fill the gap, Dubai’s then ruler, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, convened a team of experts – headed by Maurice Flanagan and later joined by Tim Clark and the ruler’s then 26- year old son, Sheik Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum – to devise an emergency plan. The group’s recommendation to set up a home carrier for Dubai was quickly accepted by the ruler, but he imposed two conditions: The new airline should meet the highest quality standards and there would be no additional capital injections from the government other than the agreed USD 10 million start-up capital. On October 25th, 1985, Emirates’ first flight departed to Karachi, using an A300, wet-leased from Pakistan International Airlines. The rest is history: in 1987, Emirates began to serve it first two European destinations – London Gatwick and Frankfurt –, from 1995, it has operated an all wide body fleet, and in 2001, 2003 and 2005 Emirates placed some of the largest aircraft orders ever. As of October 2007, Emirates’ route network extends to 91 destinations on all continents. In its last business year, ending March 31st, 2007, the airline transported 17.5 million passengers and 1.2 million tons of cargo on 102 aircraft. Currently, 118 aircraft are on firm order (of which 20 will be all-freighters), including 55 A380 and 43 B777.

1.2 The Emirates Group

Emirates Airlines (including its cargo subsidiary Emirates...