Emirates is known for weird and wonderful marketing stunts, like when it flew one of its A380s in formation with people in jetpacks. However, did you know that the airline has a life-sized Airbus A380 made from half a million flowers in Dubai?
The world’s largest natural flower garden
Dubai is known for going big when it comes to projects. After all, it is home to the Burj Kalifa, the world’s tallest building at over 2,700 feet. Clearly, this ambition doesn’t stop when it comes to gardening. The Dubai Miracle Garden is the world’s largest natural flower garden, located in the city’s south-east.
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The garden contains many things made of flowers, such as a 15-meter wide floral clock and an 18-meter tall Mickey Mouse made of flowers. However, one thing stands out for avgeeks and flower lovers alike, the life-sized A380 made of flowers. The aircraft takes up 10% of the garden.
Half a million flowers
Located to the north-east of the garden is a life-sized Airbus A380 made from half a million flowers and other plants. The flowers cover almost all of the sculpture’s surfaces, including the fuselage, wings, and the outside of the engines.
9,000 flowers alone make up the Emirates logo on the aircraft’s side, while a further 100,000 are spread across the wings. It took 200 people 180 days to construct the sculpture, which stands over 72 meters long and almost 25 meters high.
Emirates’ fleet of A380s has an average takeoff weight of 575 tonnes. Their flowery cousin doesn’t weigh quite as much, clocking in at just over 100 tonnes. Seven varieties of flowers were used for the installation: Petunia, Coleus, Marigold, Snapdragon, Viola, Geranium, and Gaillardia. Given its immense size, the piece holds the Guinness World Record for the ‘largest flower arrangement/sculpture.’
Emirates is no stranger to world records
Holding the Guinness World Record for the floral Airbus A380 isn’t a one-off for Emirates. Indeed, last year the airline set the world record for the most nationalities onboard an aircraft with 500 passengers from 145 nationalities traveling on a specially liveried A380 on the 48th UAE National Day.
The airline has also set several records with the Dubai Police Force’s help regarding the heaviest aircraft pulled by a team. One of its A380s is the heaviest aircraft pulled by a team of men, while the record for women is held by an Emirates Boeing 777.
Although it’s not just Emirates that is busy pulling planes, just over a year ago, 30 students aged between 15-17 pulled a flydubai Boeing 737 150m. Meanwhile, back in March, a British Airways staff team pulled a brand new Airbus A350 100m for charity, setting the record for the heaviest aircraft pulled by a mixed team.
Have you seen the floral Emirates Airbus A380? What did you think? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
