The airline’s president Sir Tim Clark told the Airlines 2023 conference on Monday (20 November) that Heathrow’s six Airbus A380 flights a day “were all full”. "The profit Heathrow generates is more than we get out of west Asia – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka – so you can see why it’s so important.”
Clark said the UK had been one of the first markets to recover after Covid and was “resilient to the fare levels we have in place”. While admitting these were high, he added: “I’m not saying they are going to last for ever."
Touching on Stansted’s double-daily flights, Clark said there was scope there to add a third daily frequency, and revealed Glasgow’s daily A380 service boasted a load factor of 82%. He said consumers valued the ability to transfer from airports like Glasgow to destinations as distant as Australia with a 90-minute one-stop connection.
Clark hailed the UK the most popular destination across its network. “Just about every city we serve we have aspirants to come to the UK before Paris, Frankfurt – even some US destinations.”
Emirates is seeing strong demand from the Midlands, the north-east, the north-west and Scotland, Clark told delegates, adding: “So long as my competitor peer group keeps out of those airports, we are doing well.”
However, he said the lack of government support for the regions meant some airports, like Cardiff and Leeds Bradford, “are struggling”. “There was a seismic shift in de-industrialisation with the Thatcher era, and things did not get plugged in to replace.”
Clark said digital developments meant airport queues would disappear within a decade at some terminals and passports become “an anachronism”.
“Airports should be developing the tech that exists today," he told the conference. "We have 50 countries [at Dubai airport] we welcome with only facial recognition. In the next 10 years, there will be no check-in, no central search.”
Electronic visas and biometric technology made this possible, Clark continued: “You’ll walk in, drop your bag and a robot may say, ‘I don’t like what’s in your bag’. Border Force will be gone, their role will be to identify and extract.”
Clark said that at 74 years old, he still enjoyed the challenge of running Emirates even amid the issues the Middle East has had to overcome. He spoke of how he wakes at 5am and is in the office before 6.15am. “Mentally, I really enjoy it,” he said.
