Emirates became the world’s largest Airbus A380 user by a long way and has taken delivery of 123 examples since July 2008
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Last November’s Dubai Air Show was a home run for Sir Tim Clark and Emirates. He dominated the headlines for days on end, keeping manufacturers, suppliers, and the entire industry following in suspense. His efforts culminated in $58bn of new aircraft orders with Boeing and Airbus for a total of 310 widebody aircraft. With these commitments, the foundations of a new era for Emirates have been laid, as it looks to prepare for the future and a world without the Airbus A380.
Hours before the air show started, a relaxed but sharply focused Clark received Airliner World in his office for an exclusive interview to present the bigger picture. While at that time he could not disclose any of the upcoming news – even denying any certainty that there would be any – he was able to put everything that would happen days later into context. “I’ve been quite open about the fact that we are going to buy more aircraft to expand our network,” Clark said, explaining that Emirates needs to be equipped for the process of entering the third epoch of its history. “The first era was from our formative years from 1985 to about the early 2000s. We transitioned ourselves, we expanded, we scaled. COVID-19 marked the close of Emirates’ second era that began when the A380 appeared on the scene and became a massive disruptor to the industry.”