Emirates will return to profitability in 2022: Tim Clark
Speaking at Dubai International Airport, Sir Tim Clark, President of Dubai-based airline Emirates has outlined his strategy and prediction for how the airline will recover from the Covid-19 pandemic in an interview with CNN’s John Defterios.
Excerpts from the interview:
Tim Clark, Emirates: I can see no other way out of this pandemic [than vaccines] and there have to be the silver bullet. We've got track and trace, we've got lockdowns, we’ve got all sorts of protocols, social distancing, etcetera, etcetera. But still in the West, in America, in Europe, it is rampant. Even under nine months of all sorts of protocols to mitigate the risk of infection. So, for me, if it is as it is, it's absolutely vital that we roll these out at scale, at speed and get them administered as quickly as possible. Only then, will we get ourselves through this.
John Defterios, CNN: Let's talk it through. What's realistic in terms of global distribution? You have the hub here, set and ready to go. Are we looking at the second half of 2021? Or second quarter of 2021 on a global scale?
Tim Clark, Emirates: No, I think if they do come out and we have got the logistics of the supply chain sorted. Of course, in Europe and America, they can be road transport, they can be the integrators from FedEx, UPS, flying around, and do all that. But when you're talking about this transoceanic remote continent from the actual production source of the pharmaceutical side of things, you need to get all this sorted out.
It is that, in tandem with the scaling up of production, in tandem with the scaling up of the supply chain - whether the ground or air, will take time. Six to nine months, which is why, I believe, we will see in the course of '21, all of this getting into place in the last quarter and as that happens, you will see demand for air travel grow - I believe - at pace.
John Defterios, CNN: At pace, back to normal perhaps, by the first quarter of 2022 is what you're suggesting?
Tim Clark, Emirates: I would think that during the first quarter, first half, the first six months of '22, you'll see a lot of this coming back. So, I'm expecting, maybe I'm overoptimistic, but in all the years I've been in this business and led a business which is global in its reach and seeing how countries have responded to various crises, time and time again. Even with the big crisis, the big disruptions to the global economy, is its bounce back and that's what I'm expecting. – TradeArabia News Service