1998 - Emirates airline signed in London a $2.4 billion (Dh8.82 billion) contract with Airbus Industrie for six Airbus A340-500s with an option for another ten. The purchase includes Rolls-Royce Trent 500 engines to power the four-engine aircraft. The contract was signed at Farnborough Air Show by Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation and Chaiman and CEO of Emirates airline and Group. The airline also confirmed the order of a 17th Airbus A330-200 and signed leases for two more Boeing 777-300s with a Singapore aircraft leasing firm. The six Airbus planes will be delivered starting autumn of 2002 while the two new Boeings will join Emirates’ fleet at the end of next year.
Other important events
1831 - Russia takes Warsaw after two-day battle, and Polish revolt collapses.
1900 - Galveston, Texas, is struck by a hurricane that kills about 6,000 people.
1934 - Luxury passenger ship Morro Castle off New Jersey catches fire, 133 die.
1941 - Germans begin an 872-day siege of Leningrad, now St Petersburg, Russia.
1978 - Iranian troops shoot protesters in Jaleh Square, killing at least 86.
1993 - Gunmen in Johannesburg, South Africa, kill at least 21 black commuters and wound 25.
2006 - Two bombs tear through a crowd of Muslim worshippers in Malegaon, India, killing 37 people.
2013 - Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari steps down at the end of his five-year term.
