Dubai debt will not affect Emirates

President of the Emirates Group, Tim Clark, has said the airline would not be affected by the restructuring at Dubai World, saying that the Dubai-based carrier’s finances were solid and the airline had no intention of cancelling any orders.

He said that they were all a bit shocked by what’s happened and the global fall out in the last two days, however Dubai would navigate itself out of this as will the airline.  He remained confident that the airline would not be affected by this.

Dubai shocked the financial world on the 25th of November when it said it would ask creditors of Dubai World and Nakheel to agree to a freeze on billions of dollars of debt as a first-step to restructuring.

Clark went on to say that the airline had independent sukuks, an Islamic bond, and other bonds maturing in 2010 and 2011, and realises that people expect the airline to repay or refinance them on schedule which they will do.

The airline only relies on the UAE for 17 per cent of its business, while the rest is from international travellers, and is dubbed as the jewel of the crown of Dubai’s assets.

Clark concluded by saying that if there was more turbulence then the airline would moderate their growth to account for this but they’re not going to stop growing, Emirates was a great business.