The New Jet Age

The New Jet Age Has Arrived
A stewardess poses inside the bar of an Emirates Airlines A380 aircraft presented at the International Aerospace Exhibition (ILA) on June 8, 2010 at the Schoenefeld airport in Berlin. Dubai airline Emirates said it had placed an order worth 11.5 billion dollars with Airbus for 32 more A380 'superjumbo' passenger aircraft. The biannual show is the third biggest in Europe after those in Britain and France, was expected to draw more than 1,100 exhibitions from 37 countries. AFP PHOTO / JOHANNES EISELE (Photo credit should read JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images)
A stewardess poses inside the bar of an Emirates Airlines A380 aircraft presented at the International Aerospace Exhibition (ILA) on June 8, 2010 at the Schoenefeld airport in Berlin. Dubai airline Emirates said it had placed an order worth 11.5 billion dollars with Airbus for 32 more A380 'superjumbo' passenger aircraft. The biannual show is the third biggest in Europe after those in Britain and France, was expected to draw more than 1,100 exhibitions from 37 countries. AFP PHOTO / JOHANNES EISELE (Photo credit should read JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images)

I join the stream of travelers transferring from the concourse to a shining new aircraft, around 400 boarding on the lower level into economy class and some 90 on the upper floor to business and first. On both tiers the passengers are greeted by a phalanx of attractive young air hostesses recruited from all over the world. (Though Emirates employs male stewards, none is in evidence today.) The cabin announcements reveal that the crew on this flight can speak English, French, German, Arabic, Spanish, Swahili, Mandarin, Italian, and Xhosa.

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