Sir Timothy (Tim) Clark, KBE
President
Emirates Airline
Sir Clark has been in the civil aviation business for his whole professional career, having joined British Caledonian in 1972.
In 1975, he moved to Gulf Air in Bahrain and subsequently in 1985 to Dubai where he became a member of the founding team of Emirates as Head of Airline Planning.
In 2003, he became President of Emirates Airline, one of the world's fastest growing airlines, which currently serves more than 150 destinations in 80 countries with a fleet of 250 wide-bodied aircraft. The airline has an aircraft order book of over 250 units valued at more than US $100 billion at list prices. Emirates operates the world’s largest fleet of A380s, and also the world’s largest Boeing 777 fleet.
Emirates, winner of more than 500 international awards for product and service excellence, is on a strong trajectory to become a top 100 global lifestyle brand. The airline is gaining momentum having been named the world's Most Valuable Airline Brand for three years running, worth US$ 7.7 billion according to the 2016 Brand Finance Global 500 study, as well as being designated as one of the most iconic airline brands by the Taylor Nelson Sofres Iconicity index.
Between April 1998 and March 2008, Sir Clark was also the Managing Director of Sri Lankan Airlines, the latter position resulted from Emirates' acquisition in April 1998 of a major stake in the airline with full management control.
Sir Clark is Chairman of the Emirates Airline Foundation, which he was instrumental in founding. The Foundation strives to improve the welfare of disadvantaged children of the world.
He holds a degree in Economics from London University and is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. He also holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Middlesex, and an honorary degree from the Newcastle Business Scholl at Northumbria University.
In the 2014 Queen’s New Year’s Honours list, Sir Clark was invested as a Knight of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) for services to British prosperity and to the aviation industry.
In November 2009, he was conferred an “Officier de la Legion d’Honneur” by the French government for services to transport and aviation, and he holds the 2009 Gold Award from the Royal Aeronautical Society for his contribution to civil aerospace. At the 2011 Airline Business and Flightglobal Achievement Awards, he was recognised as “Leader of the year”, and in 2013, he received the Center for Aviation (CAPA) Legends award and was inducted into the CAPA Hall of Fame.