Airlines will need larger jets like updated A380: Emirates’ Clark

Emirates Airline president Tim Clark fears the airline industry’s shift away from the largest jumbo jets could leave carriers short on seats in the coming decades, potentially leading to “enormously high fares”. “You will not be able to accommodate [future] demand” with existing aircraft, Clark tells FlightGlobal on 14 September. “How are you going to manage?” he adds, noting a glut of narrowbody jets will not fill the gap. “You will be back to enormously high fares.” Clark, speaking during an event near Washington, DC, also reiterated his pitch for Airbus to develop an updated A380. "You are talking about an aircraft in 2040,” he adds. “But at least it brings back the seat capacity.” Emirates specialises in carrying large numbers of people between the world’s major cities. (It flies eight A380s daily, for instance, between London and Dubai.) The airline has 145 777s and 121 A380s, and orders for 50 A350s, 30 787s and 117 777-8s/9s, according to Cirium data. Emirates aside, airlines have been shifting away from 400-plus-seat, four-engined widebodies for years. The trend started even before the pandemic, with Airbus halting A340 production in 2012 and of A380s in 2021. Boeing expects to deliver its final three 747s before year end. “We used to have such wonderful [aircraft],” says Clark. Covid-19 accelerated that trend, prompting airlines to ground widebodies and stifling demand for new twin-aisle airliners. Instead, carriers have been eagerly acquiring new Airbus and Boeing narrowbodies.<br/>