In Cold Blood – Creativev Writing

I was standing in one of New York's vast parks, last nights cold apparent from the white frost that lightly covered the normally green grass. My next victim stood ahead of me, silhouetted by the low, early morning, autumn sun. I made sure that I traced his steps, placing my shoes in the imprints made by his in the grass. This meant that I didn't leave my own footprints and that I also did not crunch the frozen dew on the grass, making my approach that little bit more stealthy. I was yards from him when I reached inside my black Armani raincoat, my hand grasping the gun, placed inside the holster wrapped around my shoulder, the harsh coldness of its metal handle not felt through my black leather gloves. I quickly withdrew the weapon and, with practised ease, took a fix on my target. He was much smaller than me, although most people were, and I could see the wisps of his clouded breath, fogged by the early morning chill, rising up above him. I had to aim slightly downwards to get a fix on the base of his skull. This point would kill the man instantly. I didn't realise until I slowly released it, but I had been holding my breath. I applied minimal pressure to the small piece of metal that would start the chain reaction soon to follow. The ‘phut' of the bullet leaving the barrel of the gun was hardly heard, quietened by the silencer screwed into the end of the device. Only the birds seemed to pick up on this sound as they all flocked from their morning resting grounds of a large oak tree nearby. The bullet hit the man at the point where the neck and skull met and his body and, although only momentarily, went taut; almost as if he had been expecting such a thing. His body then swiftly slumped to the ground, his life draining quickly from the new orifice in the back of his head. Blood oozed from the fresh, smoking wound and left deep, crimson stains on the ground, the white frost a great contrast to it. A bee busied itself amongst the wild flowers beside me, its monotonous drone, a testament to the normality of the day. Ahead of it, birds dodged between the trees, almost chasing each other in some game that only winged creatures could play. Above me, an aeroplane, carrying it's passengers to a paradise destination no doubt, carried on regardless. How could the day take no note to the act of violence that had been perpetrated; how could this vicious act not taint the air itself? Funny as it may seem, after delivering death upon this man, I myself considered life. As I stood in the beauty of the park, the many different colours of the leaves as they died and fell from the tree staining on my mind, I wondered, for what reason was I placed upon this Earth? What was the point of life? Was it cyclical? Is there such a thing as reincarnation? Would this dead man get his second chance†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. would I? Maybe I would be given the opportunity to seek my redemption, to ask for the forgiveness that I hardly deserved, to repent my past indiscretions. If I could, would that not mean that I would spend my life paying for the awful things done in my past lives? Repaying the debt to society that I have amassed in a different time? The answer was no! I would repent my sins in this life, not having another chance, just now. I always had the feeling that my past would catch up and haunt me. I was, however, totally oblivious to just how close this time was. So what was this past that would catch up with me? I'm not going to blame my childhood for the life I now led. I grew up in Brooklyn, a poor black boy in the heart of the gang run ghetto. My mother died when I was very young, and the only memory I have, the only reason I knew that she existed, was that life was once good. After she died, my father grew distant, telling me that I was too much of a resemblance of my mother. I was an only child so had no brothers or sisters to turn to for help. Soon after this time, when I was about 7, my father would invite his ‘friends' around, they would give him things, beer, money, anything that he wanted at the time, and he would give theme. I was abused mentally, physically and sexually and my father sat back and let it occur while he gained everything and I lost my innocence and my childhood. He sold me as a possession, rented me to anyone willing to pay. This happened many times over the years- too many to count, too many to remember, too many that I could remember- until I finally ran away. I turned to killing to support myself, not because I was forced to or because of the things that had happened to me, but because I chose to. The first person I ever killed was the first man that ever laid his filthy hands on me. I can remember that day like it only happened seconds ago, I made sure that I remembered it. He was walking home, it was late at night and I seem to always remember the smell of him. Even now, to this day, the smell of whisky turns me sick. I will save you the details of exactly what I did to him but when they found him in the morning, they needed to use his dental records to discover his identity. I was only seventeen years old. I almost love that night, remember that I enjoyed that moment so much, drew it out for almost two hours, torturing and humiliating him, before finally putting him out of his misery. But why did I put him out of his misery? Did he show me the same compassion? It was, I realised, because I was ashamed of myself, what I had done to a human being. I was twenty-two when I received the news of my fathers death and had made a relatively good life for myself. Despite all the things he had done to me, I cried when I was told. To this day I'm still unaware of the reason I cried. Maybe it was relief or maybe it was grief of losing my father. But back to now, this time, back to the park where another cadaver lay, felled by my hands. I was not killing nowadays for me, but for others. They would pay me to kill their tormentors. Many people would say that I was nothing more than a ‘hired killer', but I saw myself as so much more. I would only except cases where I was killing a true fiend, although people would never know this. On the exterior, I was a successful stockbroker, rich in life, rich in money. However it was my shady interior that nobody knew about. The money I won in the stock market was used to supply my weapons. I made a killing in the stocks and through this, made a killing on the streets. I left the serene park behind me, walking at a quick enough pace to distance myself from it and yet slow enough to make it seem I was not. People walked by me on the streets and, when I reached the mail office, were happily holding doors open for me and wishing me a ‘nice day'. If only they knew of the horror I had just committed. In the mail office, I had my own personal mail box, owned by myself and under the name â€Å"Block and Wood enterprises†. This meant that I could receive information on future ‘hits' without getting my own name or address involved. There was one letter in my box, I removed it, placed it in my pocket and left. My apartment building was not harsh or an eyesore to the skyline of New York. In fact, it seemed to make it better. It was a very tall structure, with large glass windows and a sprawling lobby which was decorated with white marble and gold-look metal. Each floor housed its own apartment. I owned the apartment on the top floor, the penthouse. It had sweeping views of the whole of New York City and possibly the best view of the Statue of Liberty in the whole of Manhattan. My keys slipped into the lock and turned with the ease I expected. I threw the door open and the comforting smell of ‘home' greeted me. I placed my keys onto the small table in my hall, closed the door, hung up my raincoat and started towards the luxurious bathroom. The large living room stretched out ahead of me, my expensive furniture seemingly glowing due to the light in there. It was well lit due to many factors. Firstly I was so high up that hardly any other building could block the light, secondly, the sprawling glass windows spread around the apartment let in much light, often too much and so I had blinds installed to occasionally block the sun. I stopped suddenly, somehow aware of a presence in the apartment. My gun was swiftly out of the holster and, like I had many times before in other peoples houses, was stalking around, jumping around corners, hoping to catch the crook who was here. After a thorough search of my premises, I found nothing out of place, nothing stolen and no one in any of the rooms. I put it down to the recent hit I had performed and it was just the jitters or the ‘high' I got from killing. I made my way back toward the bathroom and noticed that the front door was still open. Had I closed it when I walked in? I was sure I had. I then remembered the letter in my coat pocket. It must have been my imagination playing tricks on myself. I closed the door, grabbed the letter from my coat pocket, settled into my reclining leather chair and began to read. â€Å"Dear Mr Johnson† it read. People were always formal even though they knew they were writing to a killer. The letter went on to describe the man I was to kill, the manner in which they would like me to do it (I never did do any personal requests) and the time and place. People always seemed to assume that I was uneducated or dim because they always told me every detail, as if I wouldn't research the hit myself. I decided to take this one on as the man to be killed was nothing short of scum. He had raped the woman asking for his death and had beaten her and stolen from her on many occasions. To make matters worse, it was her own uncle. I called the woman, from an untraceable safe cell phone, to tell her I would do the hit, not letting her say anything and hanging up as soon as I had finished. I finally had the chance to take a well deserved shower. It was a Sunday and I would not be working today. While in the shower, I thought of the new target I was to kill. Normally I didn't take on a hit so quickly yet this man was too vile to keep on this Earth any longer. I would squash this cockroach in 3 days time. A smile crept across my face as I thought of eradicating another life that shouldn't have been started at all. I slept that night, a dream filled slumber. My head was filled with memories, old and new, and some, I realise now, were thoughts of events that had not yet happened. Thoughts that would lead to my demise. It was mere hours before the job was to be done. I had followed the target for the past 2 days. His name was Attis Jones and he was, it seemed, a recluse. He lived in an old lighthouse that he had converted himself. His wife had left him many years before due to his alcoholism and his children had severed all contact with him soon after this. He drunk even more severely following this and even turned to drugs, a healthy lifestyle he was still continuing to this day. He was now only forty yet seemed much older. His white hair seemed that it hadn't seen a pair of scissors in many years as it was down to his shoulders. It was thinning on the top of his head and seemed to abandoning him, just like everyone else in his life. I was in my car driving towards the coastline where his lighthouse was situated. I had already found a way around his poor security. The chain link fence was easily climbed and although he had a security camera pointing at the drive way to the lighthouse, it was simple to avoid. In any case, I was a careful man and so parked quite a distance from the lighthouse and walked the final mile or so. I had my trusty 9mm silenced baretta in its holster around my shoulder where it was always kept. However, today I brought my colt revolver also, just because it was a secluded area and I hardly ever had the pleasure of hearing the gunshot well. It was beginning to get dark by the time I had reached the lighthouse and there was a light rain starting to fall. As I approached the tall structure, a rather stereotypical lighthouse with its red and white patterned stripes going down its shaft, I noticed that the grounds were littered with many skeletons of cars that had been left to rust. The grounds themselves, surrounding the lighthouse seemed to be in a state of disrepair, weeds choking the last of the wild flowers growing around. I also noticed, for only the second time, a small jetty. It was secluded around the back of the structure and was very neglected. This time, however, the jetty had changed for now there was a boat at it. A figure stood hunched on the deck, pouring diesel into the engine's fuel hatch. The rain, now heavier, fell on its bare skull, onto the white hair that plastered its face and shoulders, onto its black coat and black leather boots. He must have sensed me approaching for he looked up, a smile slowly spreading across his face. He was, I guessed, about 6 feet tall, with long, white, tapering fingers and pale, elongated features. In the dusk, his eyes were a deep, dark blue, bordering on black and his almost lipless mouth seemed to start just where his nostrils ended. It was, of course, Attis Jones. Diesel spilled onto the deck of the boat as he had momentary lapse in concentration. I wondered why he was smiling and it was only when I noticed the handgun in his other hand that a smile spread across mine. â€Å"Clever boy†, I shouted â€Å"Have you been expecting me? † â€Å"We all have†, was the only reply. The gun in his right hand was quickly raised an aimed at my head. I was faster however as my gun was up and releasing a bullet before he realised. It tore through his right arm, shattering it, sending the gun to the watery depths below. â€Å"You are going to die tonight, sinner†, called Attis â€Å"Your mistaken, it is you who will die, I have nothing to answer for. God did not send demons to kill the firstborn in Egypt, he sent angels. I am an angel, sent by God to clear up the mistake he made by allowing you to be born. † I was happy with this reply and was seconds from releasing another bullet, this time toward his chest when he mouthed 4 simple words to me, â€Å"Good bye, Mr Jones†. It was then that something hard struck the back of my head, leaving me sprawled across the floor. A brown shoe stamped down hard on my fingers, causing me to release the gun from my grip. It was kicked away from me and a huge weight seemed to press down on me. There were knees in my back and my face was being pushed into the mud. The water and mud burned my eyes and the weight on my back was restricting my breathing. I fought hard and managed to throw the being from my back. I quickly remembered the colt tucked into my sock. It was out and shooting my assailant before he could say, or do, anything about it. Again I was struck from behind, only this time, it was more than one person. I was thrown to the ground again and kicked and punched repeatedly. I lost the grip of the gun in my hand and this one, like the first, was kicked from my reach. I tried in vain to fight back but was overpowered by the many people around me. I was held to the floor by my captors and then Attis Jones was standing over me. Despite his right arm being splintered by the bullet from my barreta, he was standing over me with relative ease, the pain not very visible on his face. What was, however, visible on his face was the malicious look. I wondered why these people were doing this, for what reason they were holding me to the floor. â€Å"I said you would die sinner†, Attis scolded, â€Å"Just as my son and their brother died at your hands, so you shall die at ours! † With that, he knelt on my chest, placing all his weight on top of my lungs. This constricted my breathing but the cold hand around my neck restricted it further. I was staring up into the eyes of hell. All of the malignant thoughts that Attis Jones could muster were being forced to the front of his mind. I could almost see them through his eyes. Attis's grip shifted so that his thumb was pressing hard, trying to crush my Adam's apple. I was trying to free my hands but they were held tightly to the ground by Attis' Sons. I tried in vain to kick my legs but again, restrained by someone. The pressure in my head was increasing as my windpipe was constricted. My ears were filled with the roaring in my head and the laboured, spit-flecked breaths of the man who was killing me, I felt a burning pain behind my eyes, a numbness spreading from my finger. I desperately tried to free myself, but I was losing the battle, the feeling in my body. My vision was blurring and my lungs burning as the last of my life was choked from me. The only sound, apart from the steady rhythmic beat of the rain, was me, gurgling the last of my air out. Everything became dark and the last thing I remember hearing was â€Å"Take ‘im inside, we'll chop ‘im up and feed ‘im to the sharks! † Now, looking back on my life, I realised how what I had done was right. If you believed that what I did was wrong, that killing those awful people was a bad thing, your deeply mistaken. I killed those people because they were delivering pain onto others, what I did was stop them from hurting them, or any other, ever again. Attis Jones had set me up so that he could take revenge upon me for killing his son. Had I researched deeper into his background, I would have found that the web of lies I was fed were given to me in the hope that I would be led straight into the trap. It worked. I now know that his son was a certain Joshua Jones. I had killed him many years before. He was a personal call. There was no money when I killed him. There were no people who specifically asked me to kill him. I did it because I wanted to. He was grooming small children, taking them from the streets and teaching them how to become prostitutes. He was using them to gratify his own pleasure, acting like nothing more than a common pimp. For this reason I had to kill him. His family was totally oblivious to what he had done and I think that they may have reconsidered taking my life had they found out his true past. So this was my past catching up with me, it never actually haunted me, just left me for dead. There was no afterlife, no Heaven, no Hell. There was in fact, nothing. Just a black void that I seemed t float around in, left to contemplate my life and the things I had done. The hurt I had caused, the pain visited upon the innocent bystanders of the families of my victims. I also thought of the good I had done, killing all those people, taking their lives so that they could no longer harm anyone else And as I did, I realised that I wouldn't change a thing, if given a second chance at the same life, I would do it all the same as I had, doing everything the way had intended to do. I looked back and saw myself as sort of makeshift hero. Saving the common folk and helping their lives to be lived better. Maybe they would find out of my secret past and declare me a hero, or maybe call me a murderer, tell everyone that what I had done was a terrible thing. In any case, I knew that I had done right and did not care what people thought. The only part of my life that I truly hated, the one thing that stuck in my mind as the thing I would change, would be the manner in which I died. But there was nothing I could do about that now, I could only watch it over and over again, in my minds eye.

Study: Early Marriage Likely Cause of Divorce in UAE

Early marriage is probably the main cause of divorce in the UAE; some 31. 5 percent of divorced women of all nationalities in the Gulf state were married before age 14, according to a recent ministry of labor and social affairs study. The study said that 23. 7 percent of the divorced men married between the ages of 20 and 24. â€Å"This and other statistics feature in a recent study on divorce carried out by the ministry of labor and social affairs which found, for instance, that 43 percent of the time it was the woman who sought divorce,† said the study, cited by the Gulf News. With men, the figure stood at 39 percent. Twelve percent of divorce cases were arrived at on mutual agreement. † The study stressed that in many cases couples were divorced after they chose to share accommodation with their families. Thirty-four percent of divorced women lived with their husbands' families, and 8. 7 percent of divorced men lived with their wives' relatives. Financial reasons were another key reason for divorce, said the study: 45 percent of divorced people demanded independent budgets and allegedly refused to render any financial help to the other partner.According to the paper, the study warned that the ease in obtaining divorce papers from Sharia Courts was another reason for the UAE's rising divorce rate. Some 67 percent of divorced people said they found it very easy to obtain divorce papers and process their separation without any requirements or conditions. The study said the cultural and intellectual level of divorced couples played no role in the divorce. It found that 78 percent of divorced people had virtually equivalent cultural standards.But a similar study on divorce conducted by the UAE Center for Strategic Studies and Research found that the educational level of women and divorce rates were linked, with 70 percent of divorced women holding only preparatory certificates or less, the paper said. The study pointed out that 35 percent of divorced women held no certificates, and said that these women faced great difficulty in life after separation.The study pointed out that the divorce rate was 40 percent in the UAE, but the rate in the rural areas was less than that in cities. It added that the children of divorced parents were the main victims and that the rate of juvenile delinquency among these children was high. This could create a major social problem, it warned. The study urged parents to stand by their marriage agreements under any circumstance even if they did not like it, for the sake of the children – Albawaba. com

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Cuban Collection Against the United States - Essay Example This paper will also examine if the Cubans are just hedging their bets in case the United States decides to launch a regime change against the communist nation. Plans to purchase Cuba from the Spanish Empire were put forward by the United States. This saw the United States having a strong influence in Cuban’s political affairs (Leslie 1994, 24). However, there had been an intriguing collection of espionage cases on the US department of Defense: Defense Personnel Security Research Centre (Collins 2001, 23). After World War II, there were ‘number stations’ all round the globe which were described as shortwave radio stations characterized by their unique broadcasts (Moreno 2012, 15). The best known of the number stations was the â€Å"Lincolnshire poacher†, suspected to have been run by the SIS (Moreno 2012, 17). Later on in 2001, the United States government arrested the Cuban five on charges related to spying for Cuba. They were alleged to have received messages from a Cuban number station broadcast (Collins 2001, 78). Others even claimed that these stations related to illegal drug smuggling (Leslie 1994, 35). However, this was not the end of all the spying cases on the United States. In 2001, Anna Montes who was a senior US Defense Intelligence agency analyst was arrested and charged for espionage crimes. Anna Montes communicated with the Cuban Intelligence Directorate through messages encoded and received by the encrypted shortwave transmissions from Cuba (Moreno 2012, 34). However, this did not end even before the arrest of Carlos Alvarez, his wife Elsa, and even the arrest of Walter Kendall Myers in 2009. Allegedly, Walter Myers was charged with con spiracy to spy for Cuba by receiving and decoding some messages that were being sent from the Cuban Intelligence Directorate’s number station (Moreno 2012, 39). The Cuban government came up with all these ways of spying on the United States in order to avoid the United States government from

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Strategy Analysis For IBM - Research Paper Example International business machine or IBM as it is famously known as in the world is one of the fortune 500 companies which remains listed since 1900. IBM is a century old company which completed its hundred years in 2011. The IBM was formed by merging four companies namely Tabulating Machine Company, International Time Recording Company, Bundy Manufacturing Company and Computing Scale Corporation. IBM was incorporated in 1911 as Computing-Tabulating- Recording Company (CTR). Formally the work of CTR was to manufacture and sell machines, tabulators and punch cards which are to be used for the industrial and commercial purpose. One of the earliest remarkable achievements of IBM was to grow during the great depression of 1930s. Most of the companies during the great depression closed down but IBM not only managed to sustain but also grew in this period. IBM was also one of the earliest companies who provided many employee benefits like paid vacations, group life insurance and survivor bene fits. In 1932 it had its own laboratory for doing the research and development activities. Some of its initial inventions are the invention of the automatic sequence calculator and the selective sequence electronic calculator. The first large computer IBM 701 was made in 1950s. This computer was made on the basis of vacuum tubes. Another major invention of IBM during this era was the invention of FORTRAN. This is a computer language which is based on the rules of syntax, algebra and grammar. With the introduction of the computer language, IBM also manufactured the first magnetic hard disk storage system which was named as RAMAC. During 1980s and 1990s the IBM faced many revolutionary changes with the introduction of the personal computer. ... IBM is a century old company which completed its hundred years in 2011. The IBM was formed by merging four companies namely Tabulating Machine Company, International Time Recording Company, Bundy Manufacturing Company and Computing Scale Corporation. IBM was incorporated in 1911 as Computing-Tabulating- Recording Company (CTR). Formally the work of CTR was to manufacture and sell machines, tabulators and punch cards which are to be used for the industrial and commercial purpose. One of the earliest remarkable achievements of IBM was to grow during the great depression of 1930s. Most of the companies during the great depression closed down but IBM not only managed to sustain but also grew in this period. IBM was also one of the earliest companies who provided many employee benefits like paid vacations, group life insurance and survivor benefits. In 1932 it had its own laboratory for doing the research and development activities. Some of its initial inventions are the invention of the automatic sequence calculator and the selective sequence electronic calculator. The first large computer IBM 701 was made in 1950s. This computer was made on the basis of vacuum tubes. Another major invention of IBM during this era was the invention of FORTRAN. This is a computer language which is based on the rules of syntax, algebra and grammar. With the introduction of the computer language, IBM also manufactured the first magnetic hard disk storage system which was named as RAMAC. During 1980s and 1990s the IBM faced many revolutionary changes with the introduction of the personal computer. During the early 2000 IBM recognized the need of information technology and as a result it developed the e servers. In 2000s IBM also made a number of innovations in the

Housing Crisis in the USA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 6

Housing Crisis in the USA - Essay Example Alan Greenspan, as the leader of the Federal Bank definitely had a stake in this and in fact, he and his team seemed to have too much faith in the theory of an efficient market that is able to regulate itself (Shiller 89). Yet, these ideas of a perfect market where competition in the context of demand and supply is supposed to create market equilibrium are fundamentally flawed. In such cases where deregulation occurs, it is always likely that there will be a time when the market will collapse under its own pressure. The increasing income inequality is a major factor that led to the housing crisis. Increasing poverty in America meant that many households are not able to have the proper income to own a house and this led to the creation of a huge market niche that the banks could not ignore. These people who make the greater majority of the pupation in the United States had to achieve the American dream of owning a house, yet they did not have the means because they could not access the normal mortgages. When banks, through the freedom afforded them by deregulation, discovered this niche, they started giving subprime mortgages. The subprime mortgages were a high-risk venture and as would be expected, they ended up having a negative impact on the economy because many of these subprime customers ended up defaulting on their mortgage repayments. In this case of the housing crisis and the adverse situations that followed, everyone is to blame in a different kind of way. The banks were to blame for being careless and also for misleading people to believe that these products (subprime mortgages) were good for them. People seem to trust banks very much and always believe that anything these banks offer is without any hidden agenda. When banks offered the subprime mortgages, it was easy for these people to believe that it was safe to engage in the investments. The individuals are also to blame because their greed overshadowed their rationality.  

Effect of Unethical Behavior Essay Example for Free

Effect of Unethical Behavior Essay The Securities and Exchange Commission was created in 1934 to police the U. S. financial markets. Today, the Securities and Exchange Commission continues to create legislation tightening reporting standards and providing more transparency. Unfortunately, increasing standards often comes after a failure of the system. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is a primary example of legislation following financial market failure. Sarbanes-Oxley influenced public businesses through transformation of the financial system. The July 2002 enactment of the Sarbanes Oxley Act, co-authored by U. S. Sen. Paul Sarbanes of Maryland and U. Â  S. Rep. Michael Oxley of Ohio, followed a series of large public company failures that included Enron, Tyco and WorldCom. Sarbanes-Oxley addressed investor confidence and fraud through reform of the public company reporting standards. However, much damage in the market occurred with the collapse of several major companies between 2002 and 2004. (smallbusiness. chron. com). The impact of unethical behavior is known by many companies, and have done damage to individuals, and businesses as well. The results of unethical behavior on a large scale would be the Enron, Tyco, and Global Crossing, or WorldCom. Greediness led to accounting unethical promises, and with that certain individuals became the ones who had told on their companies. Falsifying financial reports is dishonest and unethical because the financial records are supposed to show financial results of a business, and how it is growing. When accountants or managers lie about the revenue and cash flow it misleads prospective investors, stockholders, employees, and the U. S. government. So many billions of dollars have been hidden in the paperwork, and financial statements. If I had found inconsistencies in the financial statements where I worked I would have to go through the chain of command to let them know of what I have found and if there was nothing done then I would then think about going outside to tell someone so I could cover myself. Unethical behavior led to the end of Enron, and the other companies, and to financial issues for many individuals all over the United States. As a result of the unethical behavior of several companies there is now the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. All companies, must comply with the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act set guidelines for ethical accounting practices.

A SWOT Analysis Of Emirates Airline Tourism Essay

A SWOT Analysis Of Emirates Airline Tourism Essay Introduction Emirates Airline was founded on October 25th 1985 with a flight from Dubai to Karachi using a leased A300 Airbus. Now the airline has more than 150 airplanes, making 2,300 flights a week to 103 destinations in 65 Countries on 6 Continents. Emirates Airline is owned by the Government of Dubai, HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum is the Chairman and Chief Executive. 2.0 Mission Their mission is to be able to carry a passenger from anywhere on this planet, via Dubai, to any other place on the world. Their procurements division mission is to provide an innovative and responsive service that positively supports the group in a commercially astute manner. We want to constantly renew ourselves, shedding the past, adapting to change and creating a promising future. 2.1 Vision The vision and the principles which propel the airline forward is for a strong and stable leadership team, ambitious yet calculated decision-making and ground-breaking ideas all contribute to the creation of great companies. Of course, these have played a major part in our development, but we believe our business ethics are the foundation on which our success has been built. Caring for our employees and stakeholders, as well as the environment and the communities we serve, have played a huge part in our past and will continue to signify our future 3.0 Competitors When the airline first started, its main rivals were British Airways and Gulf Air. In 2007, Emirates airline dominates the Asian Pacific Continent market share with 39%, Singapore Airlines 26% with Gulf Air reduced to 8%, but with Dubai s tourism soaring, other locally based airlines are trying to increase their passengers. These two airlines are Etihad Airlines and Qatar Airways. Other rivals, jealous of the success of Emirates Airlines have prompted their governments to limit Emirates Airlines access to airports. These are Air France and Lufthansa. 4.0 Stakeholders The stakeholders include the groups employment of more than 40,000 persons. Dnata Airport Operations is responsible for ground handling and Freighter handling. Like it parent company, Dnata is rapidly expanding and now is represented in nineteen international airports in eight countries. Emirates SkyCargo, as the name suggests, handles the cargo side of the business, it has eight freighters carrying 1.6 million tonnes of cargo a year to 25 destinations. This contributed 17.2% of the total transport revenue and on March 27th 2011 managed the first ever fully paperless flight having electronic air waybills in line with the groups green policy. Other stakeholders include Alpha Flight Group Ltd (owned by Dnata) who supply over 120,000 in flight meals daily at 58 airports in 11 countries. Alpha directly employ nearly 6,000 persons. Emirates Engineering are responsible for the aircraft maintenance who can proudly boast there has never been a fatal incident involving any of their fleet. Emirates/skywards handle the frequent flyer programme and e-mail existing customers regarding special offers. More diverse stakeholders are Mercator; this is the I.T. solutions provider to the global air travel industry for the Emirates group. Exploiting the tourism bonanza, Dnata Travel Services are the travel agents, Congress Solutions International provide professional congress organisation. Emirates Holidays are the official tour operators, Arabian Adventures sell overland explorer escorted trips as well as cruises down the creek and deep sea fishing in the Gulf Sea. Away from the U.A.E., the group own the Wolgan Valley Resort and Spa in Australia; this is a 4,000 acre conservation resort 5.0 SWOT Analysis of Emirates 5.1 Strengths One of the strengths of Emirates Airline appear to be their independence, they have resisted the temptation of mergers and acquisitions with other airlines. The thinking behind this is that they think that such actions will strangle their flexibility, being able to change direction quickly without having to seek agreement with outside partners. They also decided to allow free competition, the thoughts behind this decision was they believe encouraging competition would see an overall increase in the standards and the Emirates Airline are in a position to be a good performer, acknowledged within the industry. Furthermore, they wanted to show they were not frightened of any other airline, that they were forerunners not just trying to financially survive but were focussed at the most important part of the airline industry (with the exception of safety) in giving the customers what they want. This goes beyond the amount of leg room, the quality of the food served and keeping delays and ca ncellations to a minimum. Nowadays, people are aware of their carbon footprint and Emirates have made key decisions regarding their own environmental programme. Although the average age of the fleet is only 6.5 years, they are investing heavily in the 650 seat A380 Airbus which are the worlds most fuel and emission-efficient planes. The on-board kitchens are the most eco-efficient in the world and they recycle more than 100 tonnes of paper, plastic and aluminium a month. As per the official website of Emirate they are named the best airline of the year 2010-2011 5.2 Weakness -Not all of diversification and approach have been successful and this can be considerate as one the flaws or weaknesses of the company. Analysts have accused the company for focusing too much on their high end acquisitions and diversification inspite of the risky effect of such decisions -Another potential weakness is that the operating profit is based on low wages paid to the general workforce for duties such as baggage handlers, cleaners, and caterers. They are generally recruited from India and are non unionised. These migrant workers face instant deportation if they show resentment to the wage structure. 5.3 Opportunity -A huge opportunity for growth is the physical location of the Emirates. China has the fastest growing economy in the region and possibly in the world, and with that growth comes a greater demand for air travel and air-freight movements. If this requirement is aggressively marketed then Emirates Airline could fulfil this demand with its network of air routes and the ability to be flexible as previously described. 5.4 Threats -Threats to the airline can come from other established airline companies. As they see their diminishing passenger numbers on their traditional routes, they see the traveller numbers to the U.A.E. increasing and will try to prise the Emirates Airline passengers away by undercutting the ticket price. -The airline industry is notoriously volatile and subject to cyclical variations of trade. Emirates Airlines seems to weathered the storm in the current global recession, not cutting back on its ambitious expansion plans. Only time will tell if the correct decisions were made. 6.0 Emirates Strategy -The cornerstone of Emirate Airlines success is quality control. Creating and maintaining a state of the art airline for the sole purpose of keeping their customers happy. -Extensive aviation training. The company not only trains young employees but also trains other people within the industry. -Has successfully created a resort, hotel and tourism strategy. This was done by the creation and acquisition of various resorts and spas, even in this field emphasis was given on quality control and comfort. -Emirates Airline have always strived to make their passengers satisfied, winning awards for the innovative in-flight entertainment system, immaculately dressed cabin crew. Because of this it is now a brand name globally. -It has direct routes compared with the much hated stop-over that other carriers frequently use . -The main reasons for the airlines success is to make creative decisions, a unique business model, thriving on flexibility, made on a sound foundations but it may have to reel in part of its open sky policy and expand its global market in line with its vision of being able to take any passenger from one place on the planet to any other place on the planet via Dubai. 7.0 Conclusion In conclusion, the rise of Emirates Airlines from its inaugural flight in 1985 to the now prestigious airline voted 8th best carrier in the world good luck or good judgement? Has the success been due to excellent planning and vision or merely success on the back of the tourism explosion in Dubai? Has the decision to shun any strategic alliances both regionally and globally, which for decades has been the main business tactic in the airline industry been correct?