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Thriller as Dubai PM’s airplane lands in Majorca amid Iran missile barrage

The Emir of Dubai’s Boeing 747 landed at Palma Airport, Majorca, on Thursday

The Emir of Dubai’s Boeing 747 landed at Palma Airport, Majorca, on Thursday (Picture: Majorca Day by day Bulletin)

A big airplane owned by the UAE’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, stunned residents on the Spanish island of Majorca this week when it landed its airport. The Boeing 747-400F, acquired in 2010 and carrying no seen markings, landed at Palma Airport on Thursday (March 12), the place it remained on the tarmac for about three hours.

It’s believed that the plane had stopped to tackle gas, earlier than heading on to Miami, Florida. Nonetheless, it stays largely a thriller why the flight is being made. Whereas no official clarification has been given, the jumbo jet is usually used to move Sheikh Mohammed’s racehorses. It’s doable, subsequently, that horses had been being moved due to issues about their security because the UAE metropolis continues to face Iranian missiles and drones amid heightened Center Jap tensions.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has been the UAE’s prime minister since 2006 (Picture: Getty)

The horse racing pursuits of Sheikh Mohammed, who has been the UAE’s prime minister and vice-president since 2006 and in addition serves because the Emir (ruler) of Dubai, are well-known. He’s a titan of worldwide horseracing, often called the founding father of the Godolphin racing steady and Darley stallion operation.

Underneath royal blue silks, his horses compete globally, profitable main races just like the Kentucky Derby (with Sovereignty in 2025) and holding elite bloodstock, together with champions like Insurgent’s Romance and Mawj.

Past horses, earlier this 12 months, Dubai Holding Group, managed by Sheikh Mohammed, acquired the posh Jumeirah Port Sóller Resort & Spa in Mallorca, reinforcing his European investments.

Sheikh Mohammed’s fleet of Boeing 747-400 freighters is operated primarily beneath the Dubai Royal Air Wing, the specialised aviation unit devoted to the UAE’s management and authorities missions.

That includes the long-lasting nose-loading door and an enormous facet cargo door, the 747-400F can swallow as much as 124 tons of cargo, together with outsized gadgets like high-end automobiles, helicopters or industrial tools. This large payload capability is paired with an intercontinental vary of over 4,411 miles (7,100km), permitting the ruler of Dubai to journey throughout the globe in a single flight.

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The fleet additionally serves a profound philanthropic function via the Worldwide Humanitarian Metropolis (IHC). Sheikh Mohammed has famously ordered these plane into service for emergency airlifts, such because the 2014 and 2024 humanitarian corridors, to ship help to catastrophe zones and battle areas. Throughout the 2023 earthquake in Turkey and Syria, he deployed his freighters to fly in a whole lot of tons of shelter kits and medical provides.

At 24, Sheikh Mohammed led an 80-hour standoff to avoid wasting 140 lives in the course of the 1973 hijacking of a Japan Airways Boeing 747 in Dubai. As Minister of Defence, he used a mixture of calm diplomacy and psychological strain to maintain the hijackers at bay whereas guaranteeing passengers obtained meals and air con. Each hostage was finally launched safely.

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