Emirates’ Clark warns Trump tariffs threaten aviation industry

Emirates President Sir Tim Clark, who has run the Middle East’s biggest airline for two decades, says the UAE carrier can handle the costs of new U.S. tariffs.

Still, Clark told CNBC in an interview that the Trump administration’s “trade reset” could disrupt global commerce, with China’s tariffs on U.S. aerospace firms potentially raising costs for Emirates’ wide-body fleet.

“Business models like Emirates, given the international scope of what it does, the strength of what it does, will be able to ride this particular wave,” he said.

Clark said the aviation industry, however, remains in “uncharted territory” as U.S. tariffs are expected to drive up airline costs. “Right now, we are in troubled times,” he said.

Emirates to upgrade aircraft as Boeing deliveries remain stalled

Waiting impatiently on the tarmac for troubled Boeing to deliver its long-delayed 777X aircraft, Dubai’s Emirates airline plans to spend $5 billion on upgrading its current stock.

Emirates President Tim Clark outlined the UAE carrier’s 2025 growth plans on Wednesday and told reporters that refitting 220 planes was critical to maintaining the airline’s standing among the best in the industry.

“We have no choice,” Clark said, ticking off the names of competing airlines that are upgrading their fleets. He said Emirates is not optimistic about the Boeing 777X deliveries arriving as scheduled for this coming October.

While Boeing struggles, industry-leading Airbus is pushing for a closer relationship with the UAE, rolling out plans to manufacture components and establish a regional maintenance hub in Abu Dhabi for its A400M military transport aircraft.

Elsewhere in the Gulf, Qatar Airways is addressing renewed demand from Syria by increasing the frequency of flights to Damascus as the country emerges from more than a decade of civil war, Bloomberg reports.

Most airlines halted flights to the Syrian capital while violence flared across the country. Qatar Airways was the first national carrier to relaunch flights to Beirut after a cease fire was reached between Israel and Lebanon in November.

Emirates President Tim Clark says Boeing crisis is far from over

Emirates President Tim Clark says in a round of interviews that the crisis at Boeing is far from over and the U.S. planemaker needs to do more to address customer concerns.

For starters, he says Emirates should receive billions in compensation for delays in the development of Boeing’s latest 777 jet, Arab News reports.

Clark’s concerns carry clout given that his airline is the biggest buyer of both Boeing and Airbus widebody aircraft.

“For me, this will be a five-year hiatus starting from now,” Clark said in an interview with Bloomberg.

As a result of the manufacturing issues and delays on new widebody aircraft at the planemaker, Emirates is putting more of its Boeing 777 aircraft through an extensive retrofit program, Clark said.

That has raised the cost of the program to about $3.5 billion from previously $2 billion, he said.

Clark also advised that Boeing pick a strong CEO grounded in engineering and business to replace the departing Dave Calhoun.

The Emirates chief also said he’s certain that airfares are going up. “Unfortunately, but that’s the way it is,” he told CNBC.