Emirates Airline Leased Plane from PIA with Pilots for its First Ever Flight in 1985

The history of the widely popular airline, Emirates dates back to 1984, when Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Minister of Defence and a member of Dubai’s Royal family at that time wanted to start an airline.

Maurice Flanagan, the then Managing Director of dnata, was appointed with the task to launch an airline in 5 months with $10 million seed funding. Interestingly, the airline operated its first flight from Dubai to Karachi on 25^th October 1985, using Boeing 737 and an Airbus 300 B4, which was wet-leased from Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).

Emirates then bought its own aircraft in 1987 and operated a successful flight from Toulouse to Dubai in Airbus A 310-304 on July 3^rd, 1987.

The history reflects the noteworthy stature of Pakistan Airlines during 1980s.