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Dubai: Emirates’ first chief pilot dies after prolonged illness

Captain Fazle Ghani was delegated by Pakistan International Airlines to help the emirate set up its own carrier

Published: Sun 31 Oct 2021, 10:06 AM

Updated: Sun 31 Oct 2021, 2:32 PM

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Pakistani pilot Captain Fazle Ghani, who was the first chief pilot and project director for flight operations of Emirates airline, has died after a prolonged illness.

Ghani was delegated by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to set up Dubai’s flagship carrier Emirates, which is now the world’s largest international passenger airline.

After establishing Emirates, Ghani returned to PIA of his own will.

Taking to Twitter, Air Marshal Arshad Malik, chief executive officer of PIA, announced the sad news of Ghani’s death.

“Pride of Pakistan, Aviation Capt. Fazle Ghani passed away after a prolonged illness,” Malik said.

Emirates’ first aircraft - an Airbus A300 B4 and a Boeing 737 - arrived in Dubai on October 20, 1985 on a wet-lease from PIA, and Captain Ghani was amongst that pioneering team involved in the successful launch of Emirates’ inaugural services.

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In an earlier interview with Emirates, he said: “I came to Dubai on October 1, 1985 and met with HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum and then Emirates Airline Managing Director Maurice Flanagan and their teams. We discussed the tasks ahead and how we wanted to proceed. On October 18, a group of 100 pilots, flight and aircraft engineers, maintenance staff, among others all came to Dubai to initiate the planning stages, and we began test flights from then on to ensure everything would operate to plan. I was also tasked to train UAE National pilots. They were trained in Dubai and got their commercial licenses from the Civil Aviation Authority in Pakistan.”

Ghani was also present when Emirates flew its Airbus A380 flights to Pakistan’s Islamabad airport for a one-off journey in 2018.

-waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com



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