Europe’s Airlines Have ‘Lost the Plot’

Sir Tim Clark has delivered a withering response to European airline bosses who claim Gulf carriers are siphoning away their long-haul traffic.

Speaking at the CAPA Airline Leader Summit, the Emirates president was asked about claims from European legacy carriers that policymakers have handed the Gulf ‘Big Three’ – Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar Airways – too much access to European skies.

“What am I meant to do… come out with the most enormous box of tissues?” Clark quipped, rejecting the idea that Middle East firms had stolen market share.

Instead, he argued Europe’s biggest airlines failed to capitalize on global growth opportunities in recent decades. 

“We started this operation 41 years ago. In the first 15 to 20 years, the absence of the European carriers in the primary markets that we are now serving was legible. They were not in Australia, they were not in Africa, they were not in Asia to the point that they could ha