Emirates becomes the first airline to sign up for the Airbus A380, ordering seven with options for five more at the Farnborough Air Show. The world’s largest commercial aircraft will become a flagship of the Emirates fleet over the next two decades.

On 25 October 1985, Emirates operated its flights from Dubai to Karachi and Mumbai, using a Boeing 737 and an Airbus 300 B4 wet‑leased from Pakistan International Airlines.

On 3 July 1987, A6-EKA flew from Toulouse to Dubai as Emirates took delivery of its first owned aircraft, an Airbus A310-304.

In 1992, Dubai International airport completed a major refurbishment, and Emirates moved into a new $2 million departure terminal.

Emirates becomes the first airline to introduce telecommunications on an Airbus – in all three classes.

Partnership US Airways
A partnership agreement with US Airways entered in the fall of 1993 allowed Emirates to offer services around the world. 
It previously had cooperation agreements with Cyprus Airways.

Emirates becomes the first airline to equip its Airbus fleet with an inflight fax facility for customers to stay in touch while in the air.

Emirates Group takes a 43% stake in Air Lanka (later renamed SriLankan), and signs a 10-year management contract.

Terminal 2 opens at DXB

The new Terminal 2 opens at Dubai International, expanding capacity at the airport by 2 million passengers per year.

Passenger arrivals at Dubai international hit the 11 million mark. That financial year (1999‑2000), Emirates carried 4.7 million passengers on its fleet of 32 aircraft.

Emirates makes history with an order for 42 Boeing 777s in a deal worth $9.7 billion. This was the largest‑ever Boeing 777 order at the time. Today, Emirates is the world’s biggest operator of 777 aircraft.

The Emirates‑dedicated Terminal 3 saw 500,000 passengers depart from the facility within its first month of operation.

Emirates is named the world’s “Most valuable airline brand”, and the Middle East’s most valuable brand by Brand Finance, with an estimated value of US$3.7 billion.

Emirates is named the World’s Best Airline and receives 12th consecutive award for best In‑flight Entertainment at Skytrax World Airline Awards 2016.

Emirates and flydubai announce strategic partnership, including an expansive codeshare agreement, schedule alignment and network optimisation.

Emirates signs a GBP100 million deal with English Premiership club Arsenal, including naming rights to its new stadium for 15 years and shirt sponsorship for eight years, starting from the 2006/07 season.

Renewed in 2012 and 2018, this is the longest running shirt partnership in the Premier League, and one of the longest relationships in world sport.

Emirates Flight Catering begins operations at its new $120 million facility at Dubai International.