Annual Report 2008-2009 - Emirates.com

8
The Emirates Group Executive Vice Chairman, Emirates Airline and Group
Maurice Flanagan CBE
HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum has highlighted the highs
and lows of the group’s financial position and the exceptional efforts
of our staff to achieve our 21st consecutive net profit. I would add my
congratulations and appreciation to Sheikh Ahmed for his hands-on
leadership which is enabling us to fight our way through this economic
wilderness.
They say change is the only constant. It’s good to have a historical
perspective of success (and failure) to be able to predict trends. For what
it’s worth, here’s a retrospective of my 55 years in commercial aviation, of
which 30 have been spent in Dubai and the Emirates Group.
- From noisy, propeller-driven aircraft, fully loaded with 60 passengers and
seven on the flight deck, to today’s mammoth 600-seaters, with just two
people on the flight deck.
- From 2.5 million air travellers in the 1940s to 2.5 billion today, of which
22.7 million chose to fly on Emirates in our last financial year.