Emirates performs its first fly-past in Africa

The world’s largest passenger jet, the Airvys A380, performed a low-level fly-past over the Emirates Airline Park stadium just before the Springboks faced off with the All Blacks in a thriller of a rugby match.

The superjumbo double decker flew at an altitude of 500 feet over a stadium filled to capacity with 62,000 fans in what was the Dubai airline’s first fly-past in Africa and the first such stunt by any international airline in South Africa. Other airlines that have done fly-pasts in South Africa include Airlink, FlySafair, and South African Airways. The jet took off from Johannesburg airport at 4pm before reaching the stadium formerly known as Ellis Park just before 5pm – in time to follow the prematch national anthems before South Africa and New Zealand went head to head.

Sporting the airline’s latest livery, the jet was piloted by Captain Mubarak Al Mheiri, who has been flying for Emirates for 19 years and has more than 7,200 hours in the cockpit of the A380. He has previously performed fly-pasts for UAE National Day celebrations and also piloted the double decker around an Emirates cabin crew member as she stood on top of the Burj Khalifa as part of a promotional campaign. Afzal Parambil, country manager of Southern Africa at Emirates, described the record-setting fly-past as a “powerful display of our unwavering commitment to South Africa.”