EK's Clark says airline will weather Dubai's financial storm

Emirates President Tim Clark is upbeat about the airline's future despite the financial challenges facing Dubai that came to light last week, when the emirate announced it would seek to delay debt payments owed by Dubai World, the government's primary investment company.

"Dubai will navigate itself out of this, as will we, and I am confident that the airline will not be affected by this [financial problem]," Clark told ATWOnline yesterday. The Wall Street Journal, citing Standard & Poor's, reported that around half of Dubai's $80-$90 billion debt is related to Dubai World and its subsidiaries.

Clark said EK does not intend to cancel any aircraft orders, adding that it will "not be impacted by the current crisis." The airline has independent financial instruments maturing in 2010 and 2011, he said: "People expect us to repay them on schedule and we will, absolutely. . .Sure if there is more turbulence then we will moderate our growth but we're not going to stop growing; this is really a great business. And yes we are a bit shocked by what has happened and the global repercussions over the weekend."

EK reported a AED752 million ($204.7 million) profit for the fiscal semester ended Sept. 30, more than double the AED284 million earned in the year-ago period (ATWOnline, Nov. 6). It said three weeks ago that it plans to take delivery of 10 aircraft through March 31.