Islamabad: : Pakistani pilot Fazle Ghani, the first chief pilot of Emirates’s inaugural flight in 1985, has passed away. Captain Fazle Ghani and his fellow, another Pakistani pilot Captain Ejaz ul Haq, were in the cockpit for the inaugural flight of Emirates from Dubai Karachi 36 years ago.
“Pride of Pakistan Aviation Captain Fazle Ghani passed away after prolonged illness” announced Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) chief executive officer (CEO) Arshad Malik in a tweet. The funeral of the former PIA and Emirates pilot was held on Friday in his hometown Swabi in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He was in his 90s.
Arshad Malik said that Fazle Ghani was the “lead founder pilot of Emirates” who was delegated by Pakistan’s flag carrier PIA to help set up flight operations of UAE’s national airline.
Capt. Ghani was one of Pakistan’s best and long-serving pilots. He had led the launch of Emirates airline as the project director for the inaugural flight and was supervising the pilots at the controls of its first international flight EK600 from Dubai to Karachi on October 25, 1985. Emirates and Pakistan have a shared history tracing back more than 30 years.
He was among the pioneering team of pilots, flight and aircraft engineers and staff involved in the successful launch of Emirates. “I was blessed to be with very competent professionals to lay the foundation of Emirates,” Fazle Ghani said while sharing his experience in a video on the 30th anniversary of Emirates.
The Pakistani pilot went to Dubai in October 1985 where he met the top government and airline officials to discuss the launch of the airline and initiate the flight operations. He was tasked to train UAE pilots who “were trained in Dubai and got their commercial licenses from the Civil Aviation Authority in Pakistan” he recalled.
Captain Ghani was invited as the special guest at the ceremony when Emirates A380 flight EK-2524 landed at Islamabad International Airport in 2018, marking the first time ever that a double-decker aircraft landed in Pakistan.
