Abu Dhabi ADIC in New York
The famous Chrysler Building in New York (located at 405 Lexington Avenue and 42 Street, behind the historic Grand Central, downtown New York), has been sold to the Abu Dhabi government. ADIC fund bought Prudential Financial (logo “like a rock!”) 75% controlling share, the remaining 25% are still owned by Tishman Speyer (according to Steven Rubenstein). ADIC (founded in 1976) with its total buying power currently estimated as 875 billion US dollars also owns part of New-York-based CitiGroup banking corporation.
Emirates Seat Plans
Emirates Airlines Seat Plans: first column of the numbers is a seat pitch, the second is the seat width. The standard bed seats are more like your a second-row seat of your comfy SUV seats (if you go by First Class then it’s much better especially for long-haul flights such as for ex., London / Dubai / Singapore / Melbourne … the flat-bed seats are so comfortable, you can actually sleep on them all the way to final destination)
AIRBUS A340, A330 AIRCRAFT
Airbus A330-200. First added to the fleet in 1999, Emirates Airlines now have 29 of A330s.
Emirates Airlines Airbus A330-200 2-Class (332) Seat Plan
Business Class: 60.0″ 18.0″ 27 Standard seats
Economy Class: 32.0″ 17.5″ 251 seats
Emirates Airlines Airbus A330-200 3-Class (332) Seat Plan
First Class: 72.0″ 20.0″ 12 Flat bed seats
Business Class: 60.0″ 18.0″ 42 Standard seats
Economy Class: 32.0″ 17.5″ 183 seats
Airbus A340-300. Similar to the A330-200s but equipped with four engines, Emirates Airlines have eight of them in the fleet.
Emirates Airlines Airbus A340-300 (343) Seat Plan. There is no ICE entertainment system currently.
First Class: 86.0″ 20.5″ 12 Flat bed seats
Business Class: 54.0″ 18.0″ 42 Standard seats
Economy Class: 31.0″ 17.5″ 213 seats
Airbus A340-500
The first of a new generation long range passenger airliners introduced to the fleet in 2003. Emirates fly ten of A340s.
Emirates Airlines Airbus A340-500 (345) Seat Plan. ICE entertainment system on Airbus A340-500.
First Class: 86.0″ 20.5″ 12 Suites
Business Class: 60.0″ 18.0″ 42 Standard seats
Economy Class: 33.0″ 17.5″ 204 seats
BOEING-777 AIRCRAFT
Boeing 777-200. Emirates Airlines since 1996 have nine of Boeing 777s in two or three class, powered by Rolls Royce engines.
Emirates Airlines Boeing 777-200 2-Class (772) Seat Plan
Business Class: 60.0″ 20.5″ 42 Standard seats
Economy Class: 34.0″ 17.0″ 304 seats
Emirates Airlines Boeing 777-200 3-Class (772) Seat Plan. Emirates upgrading Boeing 777-200 with the new ICE entertainment system, First Class suites and improved Business class.
First Class: 62.0″ 21.5″ 18 Standard seats
Business Class: 47.0″ 20.5″ 49 Standard seats
Economy Class: 33.0″ 17.0″ 236 seats
Emirates Airlines Boeing 777-200 New 3-Class (772) with the new ICE entertainment system, first class suites and improved business class.
First Class: 86.0″ 23.0″ 12 Suites
Business Class: 78.0″ 20.5″ 35 Lie-Flat seats
Economy Class: 33.0″ 17.0″ 236 seats
Boeing 777-300. Twelve of these aircraft have been added to the fleet since 1999.
Emirates Airlines Boeing 777-300 2-Class (773) Emirates upgraded this aircraft with the ICE entertainment system and new business class seats.
Business Class: 46.0″ 20.5″ 49 standard seats
Economy Class: 34.0″ 17.0″ 385 seats
Emirates Airlines Boeing 777-300ER 2-Class (773) Seat Plan. Emirates upgraded 777-300ER with the ICE entertainment system and new business class seats.
Business Class: 60.0″ 20.5″ 42 standard seats
Economy Class: 34.0″ 17.0″ 385 seats
Emirates Airlines Boeing 777-300 3-Class (773) Seat Plan. Emirates upgraded this aircraft with the ICE entertainment system and new business class seats.
First Class: 69.0″ 20.5″ 18 Flat bed seats
Business Class: 46.0″ 20.5″ 42 Lie-Flat seats
Economy Class: 34.0″ 17.0″ 320 seats
Boeing 777-300ER. With 32 of 777-300ERs in the fleet, Emirates Airlines have another 39 pending on order.
Emirates Airlines Boeing 777-300ER 3-Class (773) Seat Plan. Emirates upgraded this aircraft with the ICE entertainment system and new business class seats.
First Class: pitch 69.0″ width 20.5″ 12 Flat bed seats
Business Class: 46.0″ 20.5″ 42 Lie-Flat seats
Economy Class: 34.0″ 17.0″ 304 seats
Boeing 777-300ER Factsheet
* Cruising speed: 900 km/h
* Max range: 14.200 km
* Max. passengers: 425
* Average seat pitch WBC / Europe Select: 60 inch
* Average seat pitch Economy : 31 inch
ICE, TV and Audio
On board entertainment includes ICE, TV and audio channels, CDs as well as games.
ICE System: Live Information with aircraft’s external cameras. Live business updates, news and sport headlines from BBC News.
Communications: Phone, SMS or email from the seat, or plug in your laptop and connect via wireless to your personal email service (on the A340-500 only).
Entertainment: Over 600 channels of premium entertainment during the flight. Movies, television, audio and games from around the world to keep passengers busy and not bored during the long-haul flights which might be up to 21 – 22 hours of flight time.
On Personal TV: Blockbuster, classic and family movies, TV comedy, drama, the Cartoon Network.
Audio system features British Airways radio channels by Mark Lamarr, Robert Elms and Petroc Trelawny, also available audio programmes from the archives of the BBC, and a CD library. Emirates tv/radio on many routes, features 15 video and 26 audio channels and video games. Live BBC headlines, and Airshow with external cameras.
Emirates Air News
Emirates Aircraft Order with Airbus and Boeing
Press-release as of 12 November 2007
Emirates Air has signed contracts for 120 Airbus A350s, 11 A380s, and 12 Boeing 777-300ER. HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Emirates’ Chairman and CEO, announced this order at the 10th Dubai Airshow; he signed the contracts with Tom Enders, Airbus President and CEO, and Lee Monson, VP Middle East and Africa Sales, Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
The agreement with Airbus confirms orders for 50 A350-900 and 20 A350-1000, plus 50 additional options for the A350-900. The first A350 aircraft to be delivered to Emirates in 2014. Emirates also confirmed orders on the eight A380 and for an additional three of the doubledeckers, bringing its total order for the A380 to 58.
The contract with Boeing includes 12 orders of the 777-300ER. With this, Emirates Air now has 57 Boeing 777 pending and is to become the world’s largest 777 operator in the next few years.
Emirates Air Background Information
23 years ago, on October 25th, 1985, Emirates Air started out of Dubai with two aircraft a Boeing 737 and Airbus 300 B4. As of today Emirates Air is close to 242 aircraft. In the year 2006/2007 only, Emirates Air carried 17.5 million passengers.
Emirates Airlines actively sponsors:
- Football teams: Official FIFA partner, Arsenal FC, AC Milan, Paris St Germain FC, Hamburger SV
- Rugby teams: IRB Referees, IRB Sevens World Series, Rugby Sevens World Cup 2009, Emirates Western Force
- Golf: Official Airline of Dubai Desert Classic, BMW International Open, the Korean Open, BMW Asian Open, Malaysian Open, Africa Open, The Hong Kong Open, The Austrian Open, Volvo Asian Masters, Hero Honda Open, Australian PGA Championship and the Dubai Ladies Masters.
- Cricket: Official Partner of the International Cricket Council, sponsor of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires and Referees Cricket Australia
- Horse Racing: Dubai World Cup, Emirates Melbourne Cup, Champion Stakes (Newmarket), Emirates Singapore Derby, Partner of the Australian Jockey Club, Breeders’ Cup, sponsor of the Godolphin Stable
- Australian Rules Football: Collingwood
- Tennis: Dubai Tennis Championships, Rogers Cup (Canada)
Emirates Air flies to 99 destinations in 62 countries around the world and growing. Current peak destinations from the UK include:
- Australia (Perth, Sydney)
- New Zealand (Auckland)
- Far East (Bangkok)
- Africa (Johannesburg)
- India or China (Mumbai, Shanghai)
Out of the UK hubs, Emirates flies from all the major airports, including London Gatwick, London Heathrow, Birmingham, Glasgow, Newcastle and Manchester.
SOCIAL LIFE of Expats in the Emirates
Once a new expat arrives at Dubai he always tries to join any beach club that offers an open membership. The benefit of being a beach club member is that they offer an immediate access to pools, hotel restaurants, night bars, or gyms. Second but just as important thing is that if expats plan to drink hard liquors or beers at home (if not at work) that may be even illegal for all expats are expected to buy and then renew a drinking license from the Emirates government every year. However, the alcohol license for consuming while on the hotel premises such as restaurant, bar, beach club is not required since the alcohol consumption is generally covered by the hotel license itself (sort of alcohol umbrella group insurance …)
There’s nothing like lying around the swimming pools with a bottle of ice-cold Heineken, or Corona in your tired hand when it’s hot in Dubai (and that’s really damn hot there in the Emirates any time from April through October). Well, if you’re an expat with a stable source of income and you’d like to socialise with your peers, then it’s easy: the cost of memberships to beach clubs in Dubai now about USD 10,000 per an expat family a year.
When western expats can’t afford buying their family alcohol permit, or beach club membership then they just go to their favourite hotel with a bar or restaurant that normally has such a license and meet each other there. The night-life in Dubai might be great with all these restrictions, options, and opportunities – all that expats need to know is how to legally bypass local customs and laws which are legion.
In Sharjah thngs are even worse – they do not sell alcohol licences there at all, so there you can’t drink in Sharjah not even when you join a hotel beach club. Honestly, if the Sharjah police catches you driving with a load of alcohol in your car (unopened) they treat you as a serious criminal, they may put you to jail, or even have your head chopped off. It’s just like when the State Patrol in the U.S. stops your car and find there marijuana, cocaine, other drugs, or unlicensed guns (intended for resale in New York. Pure business, you say. Sorry, says the State Trooper)
Any major supermarket in Dubai has a customer service stall or booth with a representative of government-licensed companies with the right to sell you an alcohol permit. However, not the alcohol itself. If you hate government abusing your rights to drink as a private British citizen or other Western expats then it’s possible buy alcohol without any license or permit somewhere in Northern Emirates but you have somehow bypass Sharjah in order not to be arrested for trafficking and/or smuggling of alcohol across the Sharjah Emirate. Possible if you hire your private Jet, helicopter, or a mini-submarine.
Even after you happily smuggled alcohol to Dubai with the help of local unemployed pearl-divers, or being a law-abiding expat with a license to drink you still can not do that during the month of Ramadan at least in public. You can’t smoke or eat in public, either. And the problem is that your friends, or relatives might be considered the public, too. So to assure a complete legality during the Ramadan time Western Expats should eat, drink and smoke only in private when nobody sees them. And that Nobody might just as well include expat’s wife, husband, children, girlfriend, boyfriend and all.
Flights from Phoenix AZ to Dubai
United Arab Emirates, Continental and US Airways connecting flights from Phoenix (PHX) or Portland (PDX) to Dubai (DXB) via Houston (HOU) for the summer 2008:
Phoenix – Houston – Dubai
US Airways Connections: All flights are via Houston. On Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Sundays. Planes leave Phoenix at 1215 PHX and arriving Houston at 1702. US Airlines flight US273. Starting July 03 2008 through August 18 departure time from Phoenix at 1850 and arrival at Houston at 1845. Plane arrives next day to Dubai (DXB): Emirates flight EK212.
Flights on Saturdays: US Airways plane leaves Phoenix at 1215 and arriving Houston at 1700. Flight US2883. Starting July 05 2008 through August 16 departure time from Phoenix at 1850 and arriving Houston at 1845, Plane arrives next day to Dubai (DXB): Emirates flight EK212.
Flight every Mon, Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri, Sun dept from Phoenix at 1218, landing at Houston airport at 1705. US Airways Flight US273. Starting August 19 2008, Emirates planes leave Houston at 1850 and arrive to Dubai at 1845. Emirates flight EK212.
Connecting flight from Phoenix to Houston every Mon, Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri, Sun: Leave Phoenix at 1218, arrive at Houston at 1705. US Airways flight US273. Through July 02 2008 Emirates planes leave Houston at 1850 and arrive next day at Dubai at 1845. Emirates flight EK212.
Mondays, Sundays: US Air planes leave Phoenix PHX at 1218 and land at Houston IAH at 1703, US Airways flight US273. Connecting flight from Houston: Emirates planes leave at 1850, and at 1845 arrive next day to Dubai (DXB). Emirates flight EK212.
Flights on Saturdays: US Airways leave Phoenix at 1218, and arrives at Houston at 1703. Flight US2883. As of August 23 2008 Emirates planes depart from Houston at 1850 and arrive next day to Dubai (DXB) at 1845, Emirates flight EK212.
Portland – Houston – Dubai
Continental Airlines Connections: Flight tickets from Portland (PDX) to Dubai (DXB) via Houston (IAH): Flight every Mon-Fri from Portland at 1034 PDX and arrive at 1646 at Houston. Continental flight CO242. As of Jun 12 leaving Houston at 1850, Emirates plane arrives next day to Dubai (DXB) at 1845. Emirates flight EK212.
Saturdays and Sundays: Continental leaves Portland PDX at 1034 and arrives at Houston at 1644. Flight CO242. As of Jun 14 Emirates plane departs from Houston at 1850, and arrives next day at Dubai at 1845. Emirates Airlines flight EK212.
Continental flight on Mondays through Fridays: Planes leave Portland PDX at 1045 and arrive at Houston at 1654. Flight CO242. Emirates plane departs from Houston at 1850, and arrives next day at Dubai at 1845. Emirates Airlines flight EK212.
Flights from Las Vegas to Dubai
Dubai Emirates air tickets: 2008 Timetable of Emirates Airlines Flights from Las Vegas to Dubai
Tickets from Las Vegas (LAS) to Dubai (DXB): Flight every Mon-Fri 1110 LAS 1620 IAH CO496. As of 12Jun 1850 IAH 1845, Emirates plane arrives next day to Dubai (DXB) flight EK212. Sat, Sun 1110 LAS 1618 IAH CO496. As of 14Jun 1850 IAH 1845, Emirates plane arrives next day to Dubai (DXB) flight EK212. Flight every Mon-Fri 1133 LAS 1640 IAH CO496
Tickets from Las Vegas (LAS) to 11Jun 1850 IAH 1845, Emirates plane arrives next day to Dubai (DXB) flight EK212. Sat, Sun 1133 LAS 1639 IAH CO496
Tickets from Las Vegas (LAS) to 08Jun 1850 IAH 1845, Emirates plane arrives next day to Dubai (DXB) flight EK212.
Flights from Orlando to Dubai
Dubai Emirates air tickets: 2008 Timetable of Emirates Airlines Flights from Orlando to Dubai
Tickets from Orlando (ORL) to Dubai (DXB): Daily flight departure leaving 1750 MCO 0655, Emirates plane arrives next day to: LGW VS028. 1000, Emirates airplane arrives next day to: LGW 2000, Emirates airplane arrives next day to Dubai (DXB) flight EK012. Mon, Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat 1925 MCO 0830, airplanes arrive next day to: LGW VS016. 1000, Emirates airplane arrives next day to: LGW 2000, Emirates airplane arrives next day to Dubai (DXB) flight EK012. Sunday 1925 MCO 0830, airplanes arrive next day to: LGW VS016
Tickets from Orlando (ORL) to 29Jun 1000, Emirates airplane arrives next day to: LGW 2000, Emirates airplane arrives next day to Dubai (DXB) flight EK012. 27 2010 MCO 1115, Emirates plane arrives next day to: FRA LH465 330/FJY. 1515, Emirates plane arrives next day to: FRA 2325, Emirates plane arrives next day to Dubai (DXB) flight EK046. 456 2015 MCO 1120, airplanes arrive next day to: FRA LH465 330/FJY. 1515, Emirates plane arrives next day to: FRA 2325, Emirates plane arrives next day to Dubai (DXB) flight EK046.