Emirates is getting into the festive spirit by transforming one of its A380 planes into Santa’s sleigh.
Just in time for Christmas, the Dubai airline partnered with digital artist Mostafa Eldiasty, known as 100.Pixels on Instagram, to create a special video showing the aircraft being pulled by reindeer along the runway at Dubai International Airport.
The clip, which has gone viral on social media, shows the plane — topped with a Santa hat — and the reindeer taking off before flying above the Dubai skyline.
It has been liked more than 400,000 times and is captioned: “Captain Claus, requesting permission for take-off. Merry Christmas from Emirates.”
It has sparked plenty of festive cheer in the comments, with people branding it “awesome” and “so creative”.
The video is not the first time Eldiasty has used an Emirates plane as the subject of one of his creative videos.
Last month, he transformed an aircraft into a playful bird, in another viral clip that was shared by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai.
Speaking to The National at the time, he said: “The idea came after I was contacted by Emirates’ marketing team to create something visually interesting for their A380. I did the work on the project myself and it came out really well.”
Eldiasty has spent the past six years working with brands to create content that is “out of the box” and has created a number of other videos that put an unexpected spin on classic Dubai sites.
In one of his other videos, a helicopter descends to land at the Museum of the Future, which opens up like a giant spaceship. To mark the opening of the museum, he produced a video that shows the museum blanketed in a giant UAE flag, which is lifted off by a helicopter to reveal the structure below.
There are also GMC trucks that break out of their showrooms and perform gravity-defying tricks on the road, and giant Burberry handbags parked on the beach on the Palm Jumeirah. The A380 has also made another appearance — that time seen drifting on the runway like it is auditioning for a role in a Fast and the Furious film.
“In the past two years social media has become very powerful, but I could never imagine that my work would reach this far,” he said. “I am very thankful and definitely proud of myself.”
Emirates flight attendant on top of Burj Khalifa - in pictures
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Emirates has released a behind-the-scenes look at how its gravity-defying campaign was filmed. -
In the new footage, skydiver and stuntwoman Nicole Smith-Ludvik says that she is 'on top of the world', filming atop the Burj Khalifa. -
For the advert, Smith-Ludvik was secured to a custom platform with an attached pole through a hidden harness under the Emirates uniform. -
The airline shared footage which was filmed 830 metres high in the sky.
