Emirates will continue to fly to Russia until owners ban it, President says

Emirates, the state-owned airline of Dubai, will continue to fly to Russia until its owners ban it, President Tim Clark said on Tuesday.

The UAE has refused to take sides between Western allies and Russia and has not complied with global sanctions imposed on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.

“As long as the state, our owner, requires us to fly there, we will continue,” Clark said at the World Government Summit.

“We transport humanitarian goods in our holds. We have NGOs traveling in and out of Russia. We have the diplomatic community that travels in and out of Russia … so everything we do is an enabler, a mediator, without taking a political position on it for now.”

He later told reporters on the sidelines of the event that Emirates does not allow sanctioned goods on its planes.

When asked about sanctioned individuals, he said: “I can’t say who or what is about sanctioned individuals. (They) will be sanctioned by the West, they may not be sanctioned here.”

Clark said at the summit that the Ukraine conflict would mean a paradigm shift for the world economy, including civil aviation, if not resolved soon.

“If this is settled sooner rather than later, the pressure of globalization, the pressure of demand from multiple sectors within the global economy, will be so great that we can get through this. The longer it goes on, the harder it becomes to deal with,” he said.

Clark said Emirates has seen a resurgence in demand across the countries on its networks following the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We’ve made profits, we’re very liquid, things have been going very well,” he said.