DUBAI - Shaikh Ahmad Bin Said Al Maktoum.

Born in 1958 as the youngest half-brother of the late Dubai ruler Shaikh Rashid, Shaikh Ahmad studied in the US and returned to Dubai in the 1970s to take up a post. In the early 1980s, he was promoted to higher positions by Mohammed Bin Rashid.

Ahmad was made chairman of Dubai's Emirates Airlines, which grew rapidly to become the most popular airline in the world in 2001. Now he is also chairman of Emirates Group, which comprises the airline company, Emirates SkyCargo, and the ground-handling agent Dnata.

On April 30, 2002, the Emirates Group posted a net profit of Dh 602 million ($164m) for the 2001/02 financial year. That was 14% higher than in the previous year. But Shaikh Ahmad was not very satisfied, saying: "In a normal year, our profitable results would have been a superb achievement. In 2001/02, it is exceptional. The notoriously cyclical industry of ours was already at the bottom of the cycle at the beginning of September 2001. The horrors of Sept. 11 plunged it into chaos".

The airline company now is discussing the planned purchase of 25 Boeing 777s, "or of more, as well as of different types of aircraft from Boeing". Shaikh Ahmad says about Dh 1.3 billion of current aircraft financing, estimated to be worth more than $10 billion, has been funded from Emirates' internal cash flow.

Among other positions being held by Shaikh Ahmad Bin Said, he is head of the Dubai Civil Aviation Department. He is also president of the Dubai Supply Authority (Dusup), in charge of importing natural gas and other fuels required by the emirate.

In late March 2002, Shaikh Ahmad was expected to sign a firm agreement for a stake to be acquired by the Dubai Civil Aviation Department in a new $1.5 billion microship manufacturing plant in Germany to be built at Frankfurt an der Oder on the border with Poland. The plant is due to start ship production in late 2003. As part of the agreement, a follow-up project was to be undertaken later at the free zone of Dubai International Airport.