The Dubai government is considering a potential listing of Emirates Airlines, according to the carrier’s president Sir Tim Clark.
Emirates chairman Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum told Asharq TV earlier this month that shares in the city’s flagship carrier may be sold.
And this has been backed by Clark, who told Reuters that a stock exchange listing was a possibility.
He said: “Yes, there has been talk about it. Yes, there has been, perhaps a little bit more flesh on the whole subject than there has been in the past.
“I’m waiting [for] instructions as to how this is going to affect the Emirates Group. What the government of Dubai decides to do…is up to them.”
Dubai plans to list 10 state-owned companies on its stock market. It kicked things off with its main utility, likely to be its largest IPO ever, and the Salik road toll-collection system – described by one analyst as a cash machine.
Emirates, however, is one of the city’s most well-known assets. The airline was hit hard by the pandemic, and a collapse in its main business of long-haul travel led to its first loss in decades. The government ploughed in about $3.7 billion over the past year to keep it going.
Earlier this year, Emirates reported a narrower half-year loss as travel restrictions eased around the world and demand picked up.
The company revealed a net loss of AED5.7bn ($1.6bn), compared with a AED14.1bn ($3.9bn) loss last year, while revenue for the six-month period rose 81 percent to AED24.7bn ($6.7bn). Losses at its airline business narrowed to AED5.8bn ($1.6bn).
Clark has previously said he aims to fully restore the carrier’s route network by the middle of 2022.
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