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Emirates airline's boss Tim Clark, who has led the business for more than two decades, is charting a course for its growth in the next 20 years that sets up its next leader on a path for more success, he has told The National.
This blueprint for future expansion entails Emirates moving to a larger hub at the new terminal in Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC), taking delivery of another 300 aircraft on order, mapping “sizeable” network growth to routes in Africa and Latin America and leveraging its partnership with sister airline flydubai, he said.
“I am trying to get a set of plans, set the dye so to speak, so that over the next 15 to 20 years we know where we are going,” he told The Inside Brief with Manus Cranny at the airline group's headquarters.
“We've got a range of products coming, I'd like to see that one get going, and then the successors to me and many others in the business are following a path and if they follow that path based on what we've done in the past, they will be successful.”
Sticking to Emirates' business model, without deviating towards distractions like buying another business, is essential for the airline's continued success.
“If you deviate from that, for whatever reason, temptations as they've been coming forward, like you decide to acquire another business … then you will find that difficult,” Mr Clark said. “Keep focus on what we're doing.”
The airline's expansion is inextricably tied to Dubai's own growth, propelling the emirate and its airline into the next 50 years, according to the aviation veteran.
“Dubai has got a very long period of time going forward where it will be successful because … it doesn't change its model. It grows its model,” he said. “If we all do the same thing, then taken together with the city, I can see in 50 years this being a serious player, more seriously than it is today.”
“So with me out of it, at least we would have set them on the path... What they do with it after that is up to them,” he said.
Mr Clark, whose aviation career spans 50 years, became the carrier's president in 2003 and has driven its rapid growth into the world’s largest international airline. Emirates promoted two senior Emirati executives, Adel Al Redha and Adnan Kazim, to deputy president roles under Mr Clark, who postponed his retirement during Covid and has not set a new date.
Emirates last week posted record half-year profits after tax, up 13 per cent to Dh9.9 billion ($2.7 billion), amid “strong and sustained” travel demand across regions that withstood geopolitical turbulence and macroeconomic uncertainty.
It maintained its position as the world’s most profitable airline for the period and expects this demand resilience to continue for the rest of the financial year.
Has Emirates reached its pinnacle?
Even with more than 270 planes in its fleet and flights to more than 150 destinations around the world, Emirates still has not reached the limits of its growth, according to Mr Clark.
“When I looked at the way we could now reach most cities on the planet, how the [Airbus] A380 was scaling our operation, I thought there is so much more to do even today,” he said.
With the “300-odd aircraft we have on order and how the network is going to expand over the next 15 years, you really haven't seen anything yet”.
“So there's a lot do. At no point did we actually say 'Well that's it, we've reached the limits of our capabilities.'”
With regional carriers emulating its model, and with new start-ups such as Saudi Arabia's Riyadh Air emerging on the scene, Emirates is not complacent about its success.
“You should never really rest on your laurels,” Mr Clark said. “It's something you need to keep on top of.”
To list or not to list
Asked if Emirates would consider an initial public offering, Mr Clark questioned the necessity of listing the world's most profitable airline and a strategic government asset, but said the decision is up to its government shareholder.
The Emirates Group is very profitable, he said. "It has a very strong balance sheet. It has a lot of cash on it and the way the business is evolving ... we see a progression of that. So in the end, why would you want to do that if you didn't need the money in the first place?"
The airline is a strategic asset and a pillar of the Dubai economy, so the government would wish to retain some control over it, he added.
“It provides people-power to the city and it is therefore strategically very important that the government keeps some kind of control one way or the other of this very important asset. If you put it in the hands of third parties, the agendas tend to contra-rotate, and that may not suit what the government would want to do in the future,” Mr Clark said.
“I think that unless the terms of trade ... move against Dubai, I don't think that is something that they would do in the future. However, that's me speaking. I'm not a member of the government,” he added.
