Dubai: The Dubai Government launched Emirates in 1985 with $10 million in start-up capital. When the airline took off on October 25, 1985, its fleet comprised just two leased aircraft - a Boeing 737 and an Airbus 300 B4.
The airline started off shuttling on the Dubai-Mumbai (then Bombay) and Dubai-Karachi routes, mainly cashing on the predominently labour traffic.
"We were paid $10 million to kick-start the airline," Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation and Chairman of Emirates Group, said at a press conference last year. "That's it. We were told not to return to the government for money. We started the airline with that. We did not seek any more funding. We continued our journey and [have] remained profitable all the years thereafter, except one year." |
