The smiling face of HH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan on the side of an aircraft is becoming an increasingly common sight at airports across the country.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has declared 2018 the “Year of Zayed” to mark the birth of Sheikh Zayed, the first president of the country, 100 years ago in 1918. And as part of efforts to commemorate the milestone, Emirates’s Year of Zayed tribute features the image of Sheikh Zayed and the words “Celebrating 100 years since the birth of the great leader” on no fewer than five of its Airbus A380s and five Boeing 777s.
As such the Year of Zayed 2018 special livery has appeared at Emirates’ various Australian ports of Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne Perth and Sydney, as well as Auckland and Christchurch in New Zealand.
That includes the arrival and departure of Airbus A380 A6-EUA operating the EK404/405 Dubai-Melbourne rotation on Wednesday, while A380 A6-EEU operated the EK414/415 rotation between Dubai and Sydney on January 7/8, as well as the EK420/421 Dubai-Perth rotation on January 9/10.
Emirates is no stranger to special livery aircraft over the years, which have included an A380 supporting the United For Wildlife initiative.
And an A380 in US baseball club Los Angeles Dodgers livery.
