Look: This Dutch airline once named its jumbo plane after Dubai; here's why

The gesture was 'in recognition of the emirate’s growing role as an international aviation centre'

Thanweeruddin Mohammad

Published: Fri 25 Oct 2024, 8:31 AM

Last updated: Fri 25 Oct 2024, 10:11 PM

On October 25, 1989, KLM, the Royal Dutch Airline, named its latest aircraft back then – a Boeing 747-400 – ‘City of Dubai’, “in recognition of the emirate’s growing role as an international aviation centre.

It was an elaborate ceremony held at Schiphol Airport’s hangar that coincided with the fourth anniversary of Emirates airline. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman of Emirates and head of Dubai’s civil aviation department, baptised the jumbo plane along with KLM’s president Jan de Soet and later told invitees to the ceremony that naming the aircraft after Dubai was a “great honour done to us.”

As Khaleej Times reported, Sheikh Ahmed said: “One day when Emirates grows to the size of KLM, we will reciprocate the gesture and name one of our planes City of Amsterdam”.

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KLM flight seen at Dubai Airport during 1970s.—FILE PHOTO

The ‘City of Dubai’ plane was scheduled for flights on the trans-Atlantic route, then on the Amsterdam-Tokyo sector.

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At the ceremony, de Soet presented the Emirates chairman with a replica of ‘City of Dubai’ after the aircraft’s name was unveiled. Sheikh Ahmed later presented a ‘khanjaar’, the traditional Arab dagger made of silver, inlaid with gold to de Soet.

2002 KT File photo of Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman of Emirates and head of Dubai’s civil aviation department.—KT FILE

Dubai vibes at Schiphol

Schiphol Airport’s hangar was cast in Dubai’s image for the baptism ceremony as a 20-member troupe from the Dubai Folklore Society performed the traditional ‘ayyala’ dance. Donning sheep nails and clad in spotless white national dress with red and white headgear, members of the troope swayed to tunes on the Arab version of the ‘tanpura’, an instrument used in classical music.

The ‘Dubai environment’ at Schiphol, as H.F.A Hemmer, KLM’s general manager for Gulf states, described the scene, was further enhanced when members of the folklore group distributed dates and served gahwa, the traditional coffee, to the invitees. Airport workers stopped work and gathered at various corners of the hangar.

Sheikh Ahmed was made a skipper of the World Society of the Flying Dutchman at the function, a nomination he described as another “great honour.” The society has a few hundred skippers across the world and nomination is made by the Dutch in recognition of the “unique contribution made by people from various walks of life to civil aviation or to a national airline”.

KLM flight at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam.—FILE PHOTO

Talking about the 4th anniversary of Emirates, Sheikh Ahmed told Khaleej Times back then that the airline was planning to fly to Singapore, Manila and Bangkok by the middle of 1990. Also, Emirates hoped to start regular services to Manchester in addition to London’s Gatwick from June 1990.

Sheikh Ahmed saw KLM’s gesture in naming its new aircraft after Dubai “as an acknowledgement of the benefits Dubai had brought for the airline.”

He also praised the cooperation between Dubai and the Dutch airline, noting: “It is good to have friends we can learn from.”

Fast forward to the present time and today, Emirates has a fleet of 259 planes, including 248 passenger and 11 freighter aircraft. Dubai’s premier carrier flies to 144 destinations, including 135 passenger and 8 cargo-only journeys, across 78 countries and territories.

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