Flying high in the desert of Dubai

Henry Donohoe joined Emirates airline in 2010 and lives in Dubai with his wife Joyce and their 16-year-old daughter Eve.

Working first as vice-president of flight safety, Donohoe is now senior vice-president of safety for the entire company. All aspects of safety come under his remit, including flight, accommodation, hotels and health and safety across the company.

Donohoe has been instrumental in the delivery of the formalised safety management system (SMS) for Emirates, having previously implemented a safety management system at Aer Lingus, where he worked for almost 32 years.

He began as a cadet pilot on leaving school, becoming fleet captain (head of fleet), chief pilot, chief operations manager and then director of safety and crisis at the Irish carrier.

Four years ago, the plan was to take early retirement aged 50 and to play the piano (he was semi-professional and composed the millennium tune Flame on the Hill which played in St Audeon's Church in Dublin for several years).

“Then I got a tap on the shoulder from Emirates,” says Donohoe. “I finished with Aer Lingus on the Friday and started with Emirates on the Sunday – so I got Saturday off!” he laughs.

Donohoe cites fellow ex-Aer Lingus alumni Alan Joyce of Qantas and Willie Walsh of IAG as leaders in their field.

“I have often felt that Aer Lingus boxes above its weight,” he says. “As a small airline in global terms, the company is a long-term, legacy carrier with an excellent safe record.

“The likes of Emirates love to get the Irish guys,” he adds. “We have over 500 Irish staff here in Dubai alone.

“We have 20,000 cabin crew now globally and would love to get more Irish cailíns on board!”

Donohoe started flying young – very young. His father and uncles flew in the second World War and, as a consequence, he says: “Flying was in my blood, I first took a plane up when I was 13 years old. I was that boring kid who always wrote in school ‘I want to be a pilot’.”

Life in Dubai is good for the family, with his wife Joyce now manager of learning and development at Emirates (he jokes that they were the Mr and Mrs of Aer Lingus where she previously worked as deputy head of cabin crew) while their daughter Eve is studying for the international baccalaureate.

He says Eve did experience a period of adjustment but now considers Dubai her home. “They say that travel broadens the mind and I notice she has become more cosmopolitan. She is a globalista – part of a global society on the move – and I see her as that,” he says.

The working week begins on a Sunday and Donohoe wakes at 5.30am “to blue skies”. Meetings begin at 7am and he works right through till evening without lunch or coffee breaks.

He says many people at the airline work beyond the hours expected of them but that the standard of living afforded the staff is high in terms of provisions such as accommodation and medical care.

“Pilots are collected from home by drivers and dropped off again, people have nice accommodation, there are 13 dentists and various consultants working in our building, so there is a feeling of being wanted by the company,” he says.

Donohoe is also a fellow of Royal Aeronautical Society (FRAeS), he is on the Flight Safety Foundation International Advisory Committee (IAC) and is a member of the Iata Safety Group – in fact, the list goes on.

When questioned about the safety of flying, he says that the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 and the Ukraine air crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 were “black swan events”.

“They are unusual, unforeseen events that are not things you can mitigate or prevent from happening.”

Donohoe says the standard of living in Dubai is beyond what he could dream of in Ireland. He lauds the great roads, the cheap petrol and the 10km square compound – “an oasis in the sand” – where the family lives, which is home to a polo club, restaurants and a golf course.

“You couldn’t even dream of it at home. At times I have to pinch myself and wonder have I won the Lotto – planning barbecues weeks in advance, sailing at the weekends.”

When he arrived in the country four years ago, he said there was a period of adjustment in getting used to the local culture and also to the cultures of the 157 different nationalities that work at the airline in Dubai. He spent six months learning Arabic but says he now has Emirati people saying “Dia is Muire Dhuit”.

“They love the Irish, they see that we have similar family values to us and many of them have trained in Ireland, so it breaks the ice when you meet people too.”

About Dubai, Donohoe is positive almost to the point of effusiveness but defends his position. “It sounds as if I am overly positive but the amount of pros far outweighs the cons of being here. We have everything going for us as a family here and it’s a great place to live. For a lot of people, Dubai seems like a very far-away place. America used to be the New World, but now Dubai is.”