Dubai Airport is now a major international hub, and soon to be dwarfed by the Al Maktoum International Airport in Jebel Ali, but ever wondered what it looked like in its early days?

This picture shows it from around 1959, when it was a mere slip of its size today. In the early days – before even this representation, Dubai Airport was seen as a hub for those flying to places such as Australia, when planes needed to land to refuel.

The first plane to land in Dubai Creek was Imperial Airlines flying boat the Canopus, in October 1937. By 1938, a trip from London to Australia via India would take a leisurely pace, starting with a train to Southampton, where passengers would stop overnight. The service would then take in a number of cities and countries, including ‘Bahrain off Arabia’ and Dubai, before finally arriving in Sydney, Australia 11 days later.

A return London to ‘Bahrain’ fare would cost about $280, showing how much the cost of a flight has come down when you consider what that was worth in 1938. Dubai was not listed as a destination in those days.

Flights between England and India included a stop off at Sharjah, taking five days in total.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 13th, 2007 at 12:24 am and is filed under Dubai Air Show. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.