Emirates insiders among potential successors to Tim Clark

Emirates is considering two high-ranking internal executives as among candidates to replace President Tim Clark after his near two-decade run at the helm of the world’s largest long-haul airline.

The state-owned carrier is open to promoting chief operating officer Adel Al Redha or Ghaith Al-Ghaith, head of Emirates’ regional partner FlyDubai, Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, who is chairman of both companies, told Bloomberg TV on Monday.

He hinted, however, that they are not the only ones in contention, saying there are “very good candidates” at the airline. Asked who he was referring to, Sheikh Ahmed replied: “When the time comes you will know.”

Succession at Emirates has been closely watched throughout the industry because of the outgoing president’s stature as well as the airline’s clout in matters such as wide-body aircraft design. Clark, a knighted British citizen, is credited with turning Emirates’ Dubai hub into a global crossroads linking all corners of the world.

Clark, 71, was originally set to retire in June 2020, but stayed on to help guide Emirates through the coronavirus pandemic. The carrier has been hit especially hard with the drop-off in long-distance travel, grounding dozens of planes – including many of the double-decker Airbus SE A380s for which it was the biggest customer.

While Boeing Co. has been beset by delays delivering 777x models on order by Emirates, switching them for 787s is always a possibility because “we are assessing our fleet requirement as we speak,” Sheikh Ahmed said.