Emirates Just Built a Giant Arsenal Crest Out of Aircraft Parts

Emirates has found a new use for its aircraft parts, and it involves a rather enormous Arsenal crest. To mark 20 years of its partnership with the football club, Emirates has unveiled a 2.4-metre “Aircrafted Arsenal Crest” made from components taken from Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 aircraft.

Built by Emirates Engineering in Dubai over 34 days, the sculpture gives retired aircraft parts a very different second life. An A380 main landing gear wheel hub forms the centre of Arsenal’s cannon wheel, a reshaped titanium bleed air duct becomes the cannon barrel, while Boeing 777 fuselage skin, aircraft windows, cargo tracks and floor panels all find their way into the giant crest.

The 15-person team of engineers, designers, mechanics, technicians and painters cleaned, cut, curved, machined, riveted and assembled the pieces before Emirates SkyCargo flew the finished sculpture from Dubai to London. Even the Arsenal lettering has an aviation connection, with sections of aircraft windows shaped into the letters and illuminated from within.

Now permanently installed in Emirates Stadium’s hospitality space, the crest is essentially a very large piece of Emirates Engineering storytelling, turning materials once designed to fly thousands of miles into a permanent fixture on the ground.

And the anniversary comes with another long-term commitment: Emirates and Arsenal have extended their partnership through 2033, keeping the airline’s branding on the club’s front-of-shirt and training kit, as well as the stadium naming rights. Twenty years in, Emirates has apparently decided that a normal anniversary gift simply wouldn’t cut it.