Sheik Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum, chairman of Emirates airline and member of the ruling family of Dubai, intends to make his country the busiest airline hub in the world, overtaking London, New York
and Singapore. Sheik Ahmed has already built Emirates airline from a two-plane operation in 1985 into the world's eighth-largest international carrier, with 105 planes, all wide-bodies.
Sheik Ahmed must compete with well-established carriers plying many of the same routes as Emirates, attract enough passengers to fill his vast fleet profitably and hope that the economies of the
Middle East and the emerging markets in Asia and the Indian subcontinent continue to grow at their fast pace.
Dubai is on a $365 billion building spree--and development means more flights.
Construction includes the Burj Dubai--which will be the world's tallest building--and Mall of Arabia, which is twice the size of Mall of America. Dubai has one of the biggest indoor ski slopes in a
25-story building in the desert. Also under construction is Dubailand--a leisure park larger than Monaco--and the Dubai Waterfront, a complex of condos and stores the size of Barbados.
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