How Emirates filmed their incredible Burj Khalifa flypast stunt
Editor's Note
What do you get when you cross an Emirates flight attendant with the world's tallest building and add an A380 jumbo jet?
Answer: A tear-jerkingly expensive, but spectacular, airline promotional video!
In Emirates' latest commercial released on Jan. 14, a woman dressed in the company's iconic uniform stands on the uppermost pinnacle of Dubai's Burj Khalifa holding a sign that reads: "I'm still here."
The joke, of course, is that she's been standing there in the swirling winds of the earth's troposphere for five months since the last time Emirates did a similar stunt for an ad last August.
Related: Get 2,000 free miles just for signing up for this lucrative mileage program
Then – in what is surely a nod to Bob Dylan's 1965 "Subterranean Homesick Blues" music video or maybe that scene in "Love Actually" where Andrew Lincoln tells Keira Knightly he loves her while her boyfriend watches TV – she pulls away the card to reveal another: "Wow! I can see Dubai Expo."
The world's greatest show brings friends together on top of the world's tallest building. Enjoy a free @Expo2020Dubai day pass with every ticket. Fly Emirates, Fly Better.
@EmaarDubai pic.twitter.com/JyKebztZaF
— Emirates Airline (@emirates) January 14, 2022
And as if it weren't terrifying enough to see her teetering, and smiling, over half a mile above ground, an Emirate's Airbus 380 booms into the shot, so close that you think she could reach out and touch it.
Related: 14 things that caught me off guard in Emirates' new premium economy
Before the advertisement ends, she manages to get through a few more cards explaining that the reason she's up there is to tell you to fly the Emirates A380 to the Dubai World Expo, that's currently taking place in the UAE's millionaire's playground.
It is a genuinely jaw-dropping piece of filming, that took weeks to organize, plan and execute.
And to prove there were no green screens involved in the making of the ad, Emirates has also released a "making of" video to show how it was really done.
Emirates Burj Khalifa commercial. (Courtesy of Emirates/YouTube)
The star of the ad is American skydiver and stuntwoman Nicole Smith-Ludvik, who climbed the iconic tower before sunrise to get to the top in time for the dawn light on Oct. 14, 2021.
Related: What it's like dining in the world's tallest building, Burj Khalifa
She and the crew took the lift to the 160th floor of the Burj Khalifa, and then spent an hour climbing a narrow winding staircase to get to the very top.
There, she was attached by a safety harness to a specially-designed platform, where she stood for five hours while the A380 flew past 11 times (at 145 knots) to get the perfect shot. The flypast required the colorful A380 to fly at 2,700 feet, the same height as the Burj Khalifa.
Dubai's air command even closed down the air space above the city so no other planes might get in the way of the jumbo jet as it circled the city for just over three hours.
It's the second time the airline has pulled a stunt like this, coming five months after it filmed a similar advert without the A380, which you can view below.
Reconnect with your loved ones or take a fabulous vacation.
From 8th August travel to the UK gets easier.#FlyEmiratesFlyBetter pic.twitter.com/pEB2qH6Vyo
— Emirates Airline (@emirates) August 5, 2021
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