What makes Emirates consistently rank the No.1 brand in the KPMG UAE Customer Experience Excellence Report?
In this exclusive interview, Sir Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airline, sits down with KPMG’s Gonçalo Traquina to discuss the mindset, strategy, and culture behind consistently delivering world-class customer experiences. From navigating change to staying true to core values, this candid conversation offers valuable insights for leaders across industries.
Explore the full UAE Customer Experience Excellence 2025 report: https://kpmg.com/ae/en/home/insights/...
Questions asked in this interview
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5:31In an era where many brands struggle to balance technology evolutions with empathy, how does Emirates ensure that personalization and human-centric service remain at the forefront of the customer experience?
9:44So how is Emirates doing this to keep the same level of experience?
14:07How does Emirates navigate these challenges and maintain high standards in customer experience, since the overall experience starts from home to destination?
16:57What initiatives do you take to ensure excellence in service not only at check-in but inside the plane?
21:55How is Emirates enhancing sustainability in operations and delivering on that promise day by day?
26:07How do you plan to continue setting the benchmark not only in aviation but across sectors?
Mr. T, good morning. Thank you so much for having us here. So, first before we go into specifics on Emirates performance, I'd like to set the stage on the context of our KPMG customer experience excellence report that just came out. This year the study highlights a key shift in what matters most for customers in the UAE: trust and human connection are taking center stage. Integrity has overtaken personalization as the number one driver of customer loyalty. While global markets saw stagnation, the UAE saw a 1.5% increase in customer experience. Emirates once again leads this pack for three consecutive years, ranking number one. From AI-driven personalization to world-class service, the airline continues to amaze and set the benchmark worldwide. So, let's start by asking what's been at the heart of Emirates' ability to consistently deliver this exceptional customer experience in such a fast-evolving landscape.
Let's roll the clock back a little bit. When we started the airline in 1985, one of the key constituents of the business model was to create and sustain one of the best service delivery models in the world. I was partly responsible for writing that business model. Our focus was to provide the best in the air, and it's been a 40-year build of recruiting the right people and coming up with service procedures. Through the digital revolution and beyond, at the center we are carrying human beings. Our service delivery and product are at the tip of the sword. We are a derived demand, but the ability to create Emirates today was driven by a consistent need to sustain the product we designed. Emirates is a respected, trusted brand of integrity because we are good at what we do. We work hard, are self-critical, and this focus from top to delivery is vital.
No, actually you brought to life a set of aspects that I think are key. The human touch is there, and I'm also a passenger, so I felt that. In an era where many brands struggle to balance technology evolutions with empathy, how does Emirates ensure that personalization and human-centric service remain at the forefront of the customer experience?
Without that, the business model starts to falter. We have a job for the ownership and for Dubai to ensure this airline remains first of first recall, trusted and respected. That remains critical. We need to innovate and ensure our colleagues understand the importance of delivering what we've designed. With technology, we can design products more intelligently, but we will always keep the human being at the heart. Many brands create confusion, but we are fortunate that our product involves the human being. When you come to Emirates, you get a world-class product. As we grow, we will never lose sight of keeping passengers interested. We walk the talk. The trick is to create products and tell people to trust us. We're doing all sorts of things for ground and air operations in the next 5 to 10 years.
It's very interesting, and you're touching on something I'd like to develop: the digital platforms. You get a bigger reach, but you may lose direct engagement. Emirates keeps direct engagement with customers. As you expand digital platforms, you become more concerned with hearing customers' needs. So how is Emirates doing this to keep the same level of experience?
Technology is an enabler. It allows us to understand better what customers want. We collect terabytes of data on everything, but we use it not to monetize but to make things better. We serve diverse cities. The trick is to do the best you can. We're all human beings who want comfort. Understand the human, adapt, don't be complacent. Personalization is nice, but I don't want it overcooked. When you travel on Emirates, we'll look after you with great crew.
Absolutely. You mentioned that Emirates moves people from A to B. But there's a critical aspect: the infrastructure limitations at airports. How does Emirates navigate these challenges and maintain high standards in customer experience, since the overall experience starts from home to destination?
That's an element of our end product that's always difficult to control. We work with airport operators, create separate check-in areas, fast track, and lounges. We spend a lot of time with difficult operators, but Emirates builds relationships. They like our brand, especially with the A380. We get better treatment because we've built trust. When Emirates says it will do something, it does it.
8 more exchanges in this transcript
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Clark, T. (2025, July 2). Leadership lessons from Emirates: An interview with Sir Tim Clark [Interview transcript]. KPMG Lower Gulf. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1034987/
MLA
Tim Clark. "Leadership lessons from Emirates: An interview with Sir Tim Clark." KPMG Lower Gulf, 2 Jul. 2025. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1034987/.
BibTeX
@misc{clark2025_1034987,
author = {Tim Clark},
title = {Leadership lessons from Emirates: An interview with Sir Tim Clark},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, KPMG Lower Gulf. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2025},
month = {jul},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1034987/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
