Background
Flanagan was born in 1928 in Leigh, Lancashire, England.
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Maurice Flanagan
Edit ProfileBusinessman Chief Executive Officer of Emirates
Education
He attended initially the now defunct Leigh Boys Grammar School, starting the year World World War II broke out, but transferred later to Lymm Grammar School, and then Liverpool University, where he gained a Bachelor in History and French.
Career
He performed his National Service in the Royal Air Force as a navigator commissioned officer During an evening outing, he suffered a knee injury that ruled out a potential career as a football player, which Blackburn Rovers had shown interest in fostering. Abandoning an athletic profession in 1953, he joined BOAC as a management trainee, subsequently working for the airline in Kenya, Sri Lanka, Peru, Iran, India and the United Kingdom. In 1969, Flanagan was one of the winners of a television playwriting competition run by the Observer newspaper and Independent Television"s Saturday Night Theatre with "The Garbler Strategy", a satire on management theory that starred Leonard Rossiter.
Kenneth Tynan, one of the competition judges, invited Flanagan to write for the National Theatre, where Tynan was literary advisor.
Flanagan chose the more sure route of a promising airline career. Flanagan spent 25 years with BOAC and British Airways, until he was seconded from Bachelor"s senior management to Dnata, the organisation appointed by the government of Dubai to run its travel and airport interests.
In 1985, the Dubai government employed Flanagan to launch Emirates. The fledgling airline received $10 million start-up capital that it repaid the following year, marking its immediate success.
After more than 60 enterprising years in aviation, including 35 years in the Emirates Group, Sir Maurice Flanagan, Executive Vice Chairman, Emirates Airline & Group, decided to retire in April 2013.
Flanagan died in his home in London on 7 May 2015 from natural causes.
Achievements
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Flanagan was awarded a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2000 for services to communities in the United Arab Emirates and to aviation, and Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2010 Birthday Honours. Other awards include Flight International magazine"s Personality of the Year, membership of the British Travel Industry Hall of Fame, Aviation Legend award by the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and Honorary Fellow (the Society"s highest award), Liveryman of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators, and membership of the Executive Committee of the World Travel and Tourism Council.
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Born
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Died
March 7, 2015 (aged 86) -
Nationality
United Kingdom