Is Emirates really the pacesetter it appears to be?

摘要

For an airline that started from scratch, in an oil-rich but lightly developed country with a population of three million, less than twenty years ago, Emirates is something of an enigma. Was it really a case of pouring oil money into a fledgling airline until it became self-supporting way down the track? Or was it a heady mix of serendipity and sound business decisions? Did the Al Maktoum royal family of the United Arab Emirates just happen on the 'dream team' when they put a management group in place? Or has Emirates merely been caught up in an unrelenting drive to turn Dubai into a showcase of the Middle East? How much of the success story is directly attributable to the vision and energy of chairman Sheik Ahmaed bin Saeed Al Maktoum? And how much to his right hand man, group managing director Maurice Flanagan?