When Emirates posted an incredible image online appearing to show a
diamond-encrusted aircraft, it unsurprisingly sent the internet into a
frenzy.
The stunning picture showed one of the Dubai-based carrier’s Boeing 777s with what appeared to be a bling-y festive makeover.
But it turned out that all was not as it seemed – the image was actually the result of some very clever Photoshop work.
It was the handiwork of Sara Shakeel, who came up with the idea for the
image after capturing a photo of an Emirates aircraft before flying to
the Italian city of Milan.
The former dentist often posts pictures to her Instagram account that she edits to give them a bejewelled makeover.
When she posted the 777 picture it quickly became very popular indeed,
garnering hundreds of thousands of views, and the airline itself even
re-posted it with the caption ‘Presenting the Emirates “Bling” 777.
Image created by @SaraShakeel.’
This led to some on social media believing that it was a real plane with
‘sanat_pr’ asking: ‘Is this real or Photoshop’, while ‘manasatluri’
added: ‘Is this real or am I dreaming? Please say this is real, it’s so
beautiful.’
But others, according to Dailymail UK, questioned how the plane would be able to fly with the added weight of the diamonds.
In a bid to clarify the viral news, she shared another photo and wrote:
“So My plane has been on the news lately, confirming whether it’s real
or not, so before I took off I took another picture just to let you guys
know it’s real.
P.s thank you guys! I truly and honestly made
the diamond plane for the love of the trip and the excitement! Never in a
million years did I know it’ll end up on news/tv/trending on #twitter
all over the place! So thank you a million times!”
