page_title: History of Emirates (airline)
section_title: Incorporation and growth: 1993–1999
hierarchical_section_title: History of Emirates (airline) / Incorporation and growth: 1993–1999
caption_attribution_description: Español: Boeing 777-31H/ER Emirates A6-EGK, Madrid, España.English: Boeing 777-31H/ER Emirates A6-EGK, Madrid, Spain.
context_page_description: Emirates, the world's third-largest airline by scheduled revenue passenger-kilometers flown and number of international passengers carried was founded in 1985 by the royal family of Dubai. The airline's first flight was from Dubai to Karachi, Pakistan in October of that year. Its first aircraft stock came in the form of a pair of Boeing 727-200s provided by the Dubai Royal Air Wing. The airline grew rapidly through partnerships and investment to become one of the world's leading air carriers.
context_section_description: By the early 1990s, Emirates was among the world's fastest growing airlines; revenue increased approximately US$100 million each year, approaching US$500 million in the year 1993. The airline carried 1.6 million passengers and 68,000 tons of cargo in the same year.
  With the onset of the Gulf War, business increased for Emirates as the war kept other airlines out of the area; it was the only airline to continue flying in the last ten days of the war. Following the conflicts, a total of 92 air carriers were flying to markets internationally and Emirates faced intense competition at its home base. It carried about three million passengers a year to Dubai International Airport in the mid-1990s. Emirates continued to expand during the late 1990s. The growing cargo business accounted for 16 percent of the airline's total revenues.
  Emirates started offering round-the-world services from autumn 1993, after a partnership was established with US Airways. It previously had co-operation agreements with Cyprus Airways.
  By 1995, the airline expanded the fleet to six Airbus A300s and eight Airbus A310s and built the network up to cover 37 destinations in 30 countries. In 1996, the airline received its first Boeing 777-200 aircraft, and was followed shortly thereafter by six Boeing 777-200ERs. The arrival of the 777s allowed Emirates to continue its Singapore service onward to Melbourne commencing in 1996 (the flight briefly operated as a Dubai-Jakarta-Melbourne service  before being cut due to unprofitability; Emirates would only begin serving Jakarta nonstop again in 2006) which would become a very profitable route for Emirates and would see new destinations added in Australia. In 1998, Emirates Sky Cargo was launched. Although the Emirates had always provided a cargo service using capacity within its passenger aircraft, this was now expanded with an aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance lease with Atlas Air, initially for a single Boeing 747-200 freighter.
  In May 1998, Emirates paid the Government of Sri Lanka US$70 million for a 43.6% stake in SriLankan Airlines (then known as Air Lanka). As part of the deal, Emirates received a 10-year contract to manage SriLankan. In January 2008, Emirates announced that it would end the management contract, effective April 2008. Emirates subsequently sold its stake in the airline to the Government of Sri Lanka, in an estimated US$150 million deal that was finalised in 2010, thus ending any affiliation the two airlines had with each other. On 9 November 2013, Emirates airline unveiled its first light sport aircraft to the world.
caption: Emirates Boeing 777-300ER on approach to Madrid, Spain. Emirates is the world's largest operator of the Boeing 777 and the only airline to have operated every version of the aircraft.[7]
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