a group of people standing in front of an airplane

Emirates EK2019 flight

Emirates Flight EK2019 Set Guinness Record for Most Nationalities on-board

Sam Chui·November 29, 2019

29th Nov 2019 - Emirates operated a one off historic A380 flight, marking the 48^th UAE National Day and the UAE Year of Tolerance. 145 nationalities, over 500 passengers and a kaleidoscope of cultures came together to make history on Emirates flight EK2019.

The "Year of Tolerance" special livery A380 was operated on the EK2019 flight; registration of the aircraft was A6-EVB, a 2 class A380 with a 615 passengers capacity.

a couple of airplanes with people on them

a white airplane with a painted design on it

The flight welcomed passengers from different backgrounds, ethnicities, religion and cultures; it included employees, families and children, as well as people of determination. Passengers were encouraged to come in their national dress and, throughout the flight, their colourful costumes became a vibrant collage honouring their different heritages and traditions.

There were a lot of fun filled activities at the gate. Passengers could take photo with Emirates mascots and write their name to complete a frame. There were also refreshments provided at the gate.

a man holding a sign with two people in uniform

a group of white tags with writing on them

Flight EK2019 was commanded by UAE National Captain Abbas Shaban, Captain Sheikh Saeed Al Maktoum and First Officer Karin Arning from Paraguay.

The flight departed from Runway 12R of Dubai Int'l, then turned left towards Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, then heading East over Ras Al Khaimah and on towards Fujairah; it then headed South towards Al Ain and Abu Dhabi before return to Dubai for landing.

The flight time was planned for 1 hour but the actual flight was 1.5 hours. We were cruising at around 7,000 ft.

an airplane taking off from a runway — Flight EK2019 departing Runway 12R of Dubai Int'l

The 22 cabin crew on flight EK2019 came from 18 different countries, the team were led by flight purser Jafar Hamad.

an airplane wing with a large engine above the water — Heading towards Coast near Ajman and Umm Al Quwain

A special box lunch was offered during the flight

The great thing with 145 nationalities on-board was that you got to mix and mingle with different backgrounds. I was sitting next to two kind Indian ladies from Chennai, who both live in the UAE.

a group of women posing for a photo — This mother of 3 carries her ultra sound photo of soon born baby

a group of people sitting in an airplane

Just before descent, an official adjudicator from the Guinness World Records, who was on-board verifying nationality counts, officially announced that the flight was a new Guinness World Record title for most nationalities on an aircraft (145 nationalities).

Flight certificates were handed out to all the passengers on Flight EK2019.

a woman holding a piece of paper in an airplane

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a group of people sitting on an airplane holding up paper

a man holding a piece of paper in a plane

The weather en-route was mostly clear as we head back to Dubai to land.

an airplane wing with two engines above the water

As passengers disembarked, a ceremony took place in front of the aircraft to mark the record; a group photo with all 500 passengers was taken in front of the Emirates “Year of Tolerance” A380.

a group of people standing on an airplane

a group of people in uniform standing in front of an airplane

a man holding a model airplane in front of a large airplane

a group of people in white robes standing in front of an airplane

a certificate with a blue and white circle and text

a group of people standing in front of a plane

I came to the UAE 9 years ago and I have never met so many people form different nationalities before. Throughout my time in the UAE, I had already started to appreciate other cultures and enjoy mixing with them.