Emirates celebrates 7th destination to US

Formal celebration held at historical National Building Museum

Washington: Emirates airline was the toast of the town as it rolled out the red carpet to diplomats, politicians and senior administrators in a special gala dinner to commemorate its inaugural Dubai to Washington flight on Wednesday.

As many as 285 guests spilled into the historical National Building Museum in the D.C. core for a formal celebration on Thursday evening to mark Emirates’ seventh new service destination in the United States adding to a growing list of cities such as Seattle, Dallas and New York.

Emirates served poached Maine lobster and beef tenderloin as a live orchestra performed live during dinner.

Emirates President and CEO Tim Clark told the US nation’s capital set in a gala address that “tomorrow arrived just before 9am yesterday morning when our American-made, GE-engine powered Boeing 777 aircraft landed on the Dulles tarmac”.

Along with the 266 passengers and 16 tonnes of cargo on the historic flight, Clark said that the flight also brings a “wealth of new possibilities…competition and a new level of service to this region”.

Clark said that Emirates now flies 56 flights per week from Dubai to the United States, a fast-growing market for the airline firm.

Roughly $3.8 billion (Dh13.95 billion) in new investments by Emirates into the US market in 2011 helps “produce several billion dollars of local economic benefits each year” in the United States, he said.

Noting that Emirates is the largest operator of Boeing 777s and Airbus A380 in the world, Clark pointed out that “last year, we signed an order for 50 Boeing 777s worth $18 billion at list price and a deal for American-made GE engines and maintenance worth more than $6 billion.

“It’s estimated that our recent aircraft and engine orders will support over 100,000 skilled American jobs in more than a dozen US states.”

On a lighter note, American pop star Lionel Ritchie gave a private performance at the gala noting that he often travels to Dubai and cherishes the friendships he has made in the UAE.

During his one-hour high-energy concert, Ritchie said he expected to see a lot of his Washington friends travelling soon to Dubai now that a direct non-stop route is available to the Middle East.