Emirates, one of the world's fastest growing airlines, recently celebrated the unveiling of the 1,000th Boeing 777 during a special event at the manufacturer's plant in Everett, Washington State. Emirates is the world's largest operator of the Boeing 777 and the landmark aircraft will become the 102nd to join the airline's 777 fleet when it is delivered later this month.

The factory celebration was attended by more than 5,000 Boeing employees, suppliers and government officials, including His Highness (H.H.) Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline & Group, a delegation of dignitaries from the UAE and senior Emirates executives.

"Emirates is honoured to be the recipient of Boeing's 1,000th 777, an aircraft whose advanced, long range capacity has been instrumental to our success in becoming a truly global airline," said H.H. Sheikh Ahmed. "Emirates is already the world's largest operator of the Boeing 777 and our order for an additional 93 is further testament to our belief in the product and the role this aircraft will play as we build our fleet for tomorrow and further establish Dubai's position as one of the world's leading air travel hubs."

"It is very fitting that Emirates is the recipient of our milestone 1,000th 777 delivery. Emirates has set an industry high bar in providing excellent customer service and we are honoured that the 777 is central to its efforts to be a global airline leader," said Jim Albaugh, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

Emirates, the largest airline in the world in terms of international Revenue Passenger Kilometres, now flies to 122 destinations worldwide. In addition to the 1,000th Boeing 777 passenger aircraft, Emirates also received a Boeing 777 freighter, the eighth to join its fleet, on March 1, 2012.

Contributed by Emirates