Emirates President Sir Tim Clark Exclusive | 'Fares On India-Dubai Routes Will High Because...' N18V

Surprisingly, and I speak not only for Emirates but the airline group as a whole, apart from the North American Canadian situation, demand is very strong given the difficulties socioeconomic, geopolitical, etc. But demand for travel is as strong as it was this time last year and the year before. So I'm fairly optimistic if we can get through all of this and that there aren't major disruptions to the global economy, that things will continue as they are. Fuel is down, yields are up. So for the first time in our history, we have the opportunity to actually make a decent return on our investment. It doesn't happen often in our business, but nevertheless, things are looking good at the moment, but hey ho, anything can happen.

No, not at all. I think we have to suffer. Our biggest single problem is dealing with the demand for the seats that we have because they've been restricted for 10 years, and yet the demand for India, certainly to places like Dubai, has grown exponentially. So that is a high-class problem actually, and of course it means that the fares are going to be that much higher because supply is restricted. The Indian market in the last 20 or 30 years has really transformed itself into a very robust one, both inward and outward, and the Indian economy certainly under this government has moved ahead at pace, trying to engage in the global economy in a much more measured but more expansive way than ever before. But to do that, part of the equation is you've got to have access in and out of your country. So the wealth multiplier that is created by air access is known to most countries. It doesn't make any sense to me to kind of restrict that, and the Indian population suffers as a result. So if you want to open your country, if you want it to be a main player in the global economy, certain things have got to be done to make that work. After all, the Indian economy has expanded in all sorts of areas successfully. So air transport needs to be part of that.

You know, it's always a question of the restrictions on what will happen to Emirates. What the Indian carriers need to concentrate on really is doing the thing that they could do very easily, which is open up their global markets. If this has an effect on Emirates, so be it. But after all, Emirates has been restricted for 10 years. We've grown our business globally. We are much larger than we were when those restrictions were put in place. In fact, last year we had the highest profits we've ever made. That's without India contributing as much as it used to. So clearly the global markets are there for all, and there's no reason why the Indian carriers, whether Indigo or Air India, shouldn't be able to make a go of it without having to worry about whether they go over Dubai or not. The fact is that Dubai is a very, very significant market in itself, and if you talk to the Indian population and the Indian carriers themselves, with their hands on their heart they will say it's probably the most potent external market city that they have on the network. And all we've done is suppress it. So if today we had where we need to be, instead of having between Dubai and India 65,000 each in each direction per week, today that could be more than two and a half times that size. Think what the Indian carriers would get out of that. Huge amounts, and that would fuel the income they need to make the investments they need for large aircraft and to go further. And have they got the capability of doing it? Yes, they have. So from 65,000, where should it be? For the time being, at the rate we were growing, it would be 200,000 now. That's where it would be. That's the potential. Oh yeah, easily. Yes. And you'd fill that as well, and the Indian carriers would get 100,000 of those instead of 33, and they would do very well out of it. More points into India for everybody. So with more capacity, better products, etc., honestly, it's a no-brainer.

I'm not aware of that at the moment. I just hope it's not just about Dubai and Emirates. It's about the other carriers, whether it be the European carriers, the Asian carriers; they all want access more in India. Equally, the Indian carriers want access to their markets, but you won't get that if you restrict access to your own. So maybe the powers that be here in this country will realize at some point we've got to give ground on this. After all, why are they doing it? Why would they? Is this to protect Air India? Is it to protect? But protection is the worst form of subsidy if you can call it that. It doesn't do the carriers any favors because they become very complacent in the way they go about their business. There's absolutely no reason why Air India, Indigo, or whoever shouldn't be four times the size it is today. And as you can see, these great plans that Air India has put in place, hundreds of airplanes come into play; they realize the potential.

It's chronic. It really is chronic. I mean, it's all very well for us to make these huge orders, hundreds and hundreds, but at the back of your mind, you know that they can't even get certain aircraft out of the door by the end of next year. They being the manufacturers. So these are very aspirational orders, and we all face it. We're hugely competitive, but we all talk about the difficulties of getting the assets we need, both in terms of the new assets and then being able to support them in the supply chain. And it's the biggest single common factor of concern that the airline industry has. So definitely it is constraining capacity expansion.

Well, because a lot of the airplanes that we were going to retire, we retained. Secondly, we refurbished them completely. So as you would do a hotel, we gutted them and are rebuilding the interiors. That's going on as we speak. We've got 220 aircraft going through that, from the 380s to the 777s. Into those airplanes are coming new products: premium economy, the new business class cabin, the upgraded first class cabin, new bar on the 380, etc. So we were able to stabilize the line. Whereas we were coming out, the new aircraft were coming in, they didn't come in, so we just kept going. So the fleet has been around 260 for a year or so now. Now we have a line of 350s coming in, 65 of those. We've got six already. They're not exactly on time, but they're helping. So we can manage. But as I've often said, Emirates could be twice the size it is today had we had everything that we needed in place. The demand is that strong.

No, no, no. Look, in the end, the most important thing is you've got to refurbish them. We have $5.5 billion allocated to that of our own cash. And to be quite honest, if you penalize the supply chain through punitive damages, you'll just push them out of business completely. There has to be a grown-up conversation when it's all over as to the effect it's had on the business. But in the end, you've got to get on with the job. There's no point sitting back saying, 'How can I get $10 from him so I can pay $10 to her for whatever it may be?' It doesn't work like that. You've got to take control, recognize the shortfall of all these things, and get it going, which is what we've done.