Emirates President Tim Clark warned that the aviation industry is in “uncharted territory” as U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs and trade disputes weigh on global growth and threaten to drive up costs for airlines worldwide.
“Straight away, we’re in troubled times,” Clark told CNBC in an interview recorded March 20 — ahead of Washington’s announcement of its latest global levies.
“It’s uncharted since it involves a measure of reset to a level that the worldwide economy probably hasn’t seen for the reason that financial crisis of 2008-2009,” Clark said, pointing to growing pressures on carriers and to the ripple effect across the aviation supply chain.
Clark, who has led Emirates for greater than 20 years, helped grow the Dubai-based carrier into the world’s largest long haul airline, steering it through the post-9/11 downturn, the 2008 financial crisis and the collapse in travel demand throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It’s early days to see what effect the resetting of the terms of trade may have on the worldwide economy and ergo discretionary demand for leisure travel,” he said, adding that, despite the tariffs rattling global markets, each Emirates and the industry can weather the storm.
“Business models like Emirates, given the international scope of what it does, the strength of what it does, will give you the option to ride this particular wave,” he said.
Turbulence ahead
The Emirates boss offered a pointy tackle the Trump administration’s motivations, framing the trade escalation as a deliberate “trade reset” aimed toward reshaping global commerce — though he warned it could unleash “troubled waters” within the interim.
Despite the turbulence, Clark said he was cautiously optimistic on forward demand. Long-haul travel, he said, stays “very strong,” with forward bookings solid through the remaining of this 12 months and into early 2026.
Impact on global aviation and airlines
A day before the trade tariffs were unveiled, International Air Transport Association chief Willie Walsh said that the levies imposed by Washington were unlikely to stem air travel demand’s post-Covid-19 resurgence.
“It’s additional uncertainty which we never welcome but we have at all times been in a position to manage,” Walsh said in an interview cited by Reuters. Industry analysts are meanwhile cutting their travel demand outlook for 2025.
Other aviation industry figures were more pessimistic than Walsh for the reason that imposition of the newest U.S. duties, especially when taking a look at the impact on the associated fee of constructing and refurbishing aircraft.
The brand new tariff regime “definitely makes things costlier for the industry,” Dak Hardwick, vp of international affairs on the Aerospace Industries Association, told CNBC. The AIA represents Boeing, GE Aerospace, Airbus and dozens of other aerospace and defense firms.
Airline stocks are down by double-digits for the reason that April 2 White House announcement, as the brand new trade rules imposed by Trump mean airlines can be paying lots more for jets and equipment crucial to their operations.
Many integral parts like jet engines are comprised of components from all around the world. The engines utilized in the Boeing 737 MAX and Airbus A320, for example, are produced by a 50-50 three way partnership between GE Aerospace and French aviation manufacturer Safran.
— Leslie Josephs contributed to this report
