EMIRATES - A FIRST CLASS PARTNER

Dubai-based Emirates, one of the world's fastest-growing airlines, started flights as recently as 1985. In the short period since, it has won more than 300 customer awards thanks to its outstanding reputation for excellence. This reputation also extends to its sponsorship of an impressive and ever-widening variety of high-profile events in the UAE and all over the world.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group, sees sponsorship as a vital element in the airline's marketing strategy: "We believe it is one of the best ways to integrate with our passengers. It allows us to share and support their interests and to build a personal relationship with them," he says.

Sport has always figured prominently on the list, but Emirates' involvement with football is relatively recent -- and as with all its sponsorships, the carrier does not do things by halves.

Emirates was the Official Partner of the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ in Germany, and in doing so became the first airline to sponsor the world's premier football tournament, which took place from 9th June to 9th July, 2006.

Emirates featured on all 2006 FIFA World Cup™ publicity material including perimeter boards in 12 stadiums throughout Germany and a ticketing and hospitality facility for all matches in the tournament.

Following their highly successful involvement in the 2006 FIFA World Cup™, Emirates recently signed a US$ 195 million deal to become a FIFA Partner from 2007 to 2014. As a FIFA Partner, Emirates has rights to all FIFA events - including both the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cups - enhanced media exposure and an association with FIFA's special events and development initiatives.

Emirates' other involvement in football includes their record breaking sponsorship of Arsenal Football Club. Emirates signed a 100 million GBP agreement with the club in 2004 giving Emirates the naming rights to the club's new 357-million GBP stadium. For the next 15 years, the stadium will be known as the Emirates Stadium.

Maurice Flanagan CBE, Executive Vice Chairman - Emirates Airline & Group, says: "Our relationship with FIFA is one we value highly. It is a high-profile partnership which supports our plans to expand our network to serve most of the world's major cities."

Emirates also supports a wide variety of other top level sports. Since 1996 it has been the title sponsor of the Dubai World Cup (Group I), the world's richest horse race, with prize money of US$6 million and every year attracting the Thoroughbred elite from every racing region around the globe.

Godolphin, racing's most successful international stable, won the 2006 Dubai World Cup with the Frankie Dettori-partnered Electrocutionist; since 2002 Godolphin has been sponsored by Emirates.

Among its other prestigious racing sponsorships are Australia's Emirates Melbourne Cup, Melbourne Cup Carnival, Gold Coast Turf Club, Australia Jockey Club Autumn and Spring Carnivals, Newmarket (UK), the Curragh (Republic of Ireland) and the Singapore Derby.

In America, Emirates is a title sponsor of the Emirates Airline Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf and the Emirates Airline Breeders' Cup Distaff; two of the races run at the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championship, America's richest day of racing.

Away from the track, it also puts its promotional muscle behind the Emirates Team New Zealand's bid for the America's Cup PGA European Tour's Dubai Desert Classic; the IRB World 7s Rugby Series tournaments in Dubai, England, Wales and South Africa; the Dubai leg of the UIM Class 1 World Offshore Powerboat Championship, the Dubai Tennis Open, Collingwood Australian Rules football team and the International Cricket Council's international panel of umpires and match referees for all Test and One Day international matches.

Thanks in part to this wide-ranging promotion of its increasingly global brand, Emirates has grown at a remarkable rate and is among the world's 20 largest and most profitable international airlines, now serving 87 cities in 59 countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Indian subcontinent and Asia-Pacific.

The airline's extensive expansion plans include additions to the fleet, non-stop flights, new double daily services and destinations, and increase in the number of flights. The addition of the world's longest range aircraft, the Airbus A340-500s to its fleet has enabled Emirates to start non-stop flights between Dubai and North America. In 2008, Emirates will receive the first of its 45 A380s on order.

Today its fleet of more than 100 Airbus and Boeing aircraft is one of the youngest in the skies, with an average age of less than three years. Among the many new destinations joining its network in 2006 were Hamburg, Beijing, Nagoya, Tunisia, Bangalore, Kolkata, Trivandrum, Addis Ababa and Abidjan. Venice is scheduled to be the next new destination in 2007.

By 2012 Emirates' fleet will have increased manifold, supporting the Dubai Government's commitment to bring 15 million visitors a year to the emirate.