Dubai: A year before Sir Maurice Flanagan retired, he told Gulf News in an [April 2012] interview that by 2017, Emirates will be the “largest airline in the world”.
The founding member of the Emirates Group was spot on. In fact, Emirates achieved that title earlier than he’d expected. It is today the world’s largest carrier by international seating capacity.
His mandate in 1985 was short and clear – to put the airline on a global map – and at that time, with all of two leased aircraft, a team of 10 people and a starting capital of $10 million.
He was, in fact, also asked by the government at that time not to come back for any more and not to expect shield against competition or subsidies of any sort.
So having started the airline with just one Airbus A300 and a Boeing 737-300, leased from Pakistan International Airways and flying to Karachi in Pakistan and Mumbai in India, Emirates today, having Flanagan as its first Captain for most of its journey, boasts a fleet size of over 230 aircraft, one of the largest and also the youngest globally.
But Emirates is not what brought him to Dubai. He arrived here in 1978 when he was appointed Director and General Manager of dnata.
Though Flanagan retired from Emirates Group in April 2013, he remained at the helm as its executive vice chairman.
