When Emirates posted an incredible image online appearing to show a diamond-encrusted aircraft, it unsurprisingly sent the internet into meltdown.

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 online 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, rightly, 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! ”

Source: Dailymail UK