Dubai: Emirates airline president Tim Clark on Monday confirmed that the carrier has grounded about 20 aircraft due to lower demand, with plans to re-deploy those aircraft again by September or October.
“We’ve got about 20 aircraft grounded. Why? Because it’s Ramadan, it’s May, and May is the lowest month for any international travellers … so demand for travel is down significantly in the Muslim world; it’s down by about 50 per cent,” said Clark, on the sidelines of an aviation summit in Syndey.
Asked whether that move had anything to do with pilot shortage or a large number of pilots reportedly leaving the airline, Clark denied those claims, saying that Emirates remains “an extremely good entity that retains our pilots.”
“The difficulty is getting the pilots and we’re working on that … so by the winter of this year, we’ll have as many pilots as we’re going to need,” he said, without providing more details.
Clark was speaking on the sidelines of the International Air Transport Association’s 74th annual general meeting in Sydney on Monday.
