Emirates’ Sir Tim Clark on tapping the debt market and the Boeing crisis

Emirates Airline President Sir Tim Clark on Sunday challenged Boeing to review things that had gone wrong, predicting that the fallout from a recent industrial and safety crisis could last as long as five years.

“I think we have a five-year hiatus on our hands,” he told reporters in Dubai.

Boeing in the crosshairs

Emirates President on Sunday called on Boeing to compensate the airline for delays in the development of the US planemaker’s latest 777 jet, which the carrier has bought, reported Reuters.

Emirates is refurbishing many of its existing 777 aircraft as it waits for the new version, known as the 777x. Clark said that Boeing should pick up the costs of the refurbishment.

He also told reporters in Dubai that Boeing could not say when exactly the new 777x jet would start being delivered.

Boeing has said deliveries would start in 2025, five years later than originally scheduled.

Air turbulence incidents to make industry more conservative on seat belts

Clark also spoke on the recent air turbulence incidents involving Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways which led to serious injuries.

He said expected industry policies around turbulence and seatbelts would become more conservative after one person died and dozens were injured on a Singapore Airlines flight hit by turbulence last month.

Tim Clark told reporters in Dubai that Emirates was using artificial intelligence-based systems in a bid to better predict where turbulence might occur.

Read: What you need to know about air turbulence?

Debt markets

Clark additionally revealed that Emirates was likely to tap debt markets to finance new Airbus A350s and did not rule out a new bond issue.

The Emirates boss was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the International Air Transport Association Annual General Meeting being held in Dubai. The IATA represents more than 300 airlines or around 80 per cent of global traffic.