Emirates airline president Sir Tim Clark has urged US manufacturer Boeing to review the things that have gone wrong in the recent past and bring on board an engineering and business heavyweight who could lead the overhaul of the airline.
He said the problems were “fixable and salvageable”, but only with a strong leadership who are “fixated on doing the right thing”.
Speaking at an IATA event, Clark warned that getting things back on track could take as many as five years. “I think we have a five-year hiatus on our hands,” he told reporters in Dubai.
The statement comes as Boeing said earlier this year that it is looking for a new CEO after announcing that Dave Calhoun would step down by the end of the year following back-to-back crises exacerbated by the blowout of a loose door plug on an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 jet in January.
Calhoun was appointed CEO in January 2020 following a pair of 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed nearly 350 people.
“It is not for me to say who should be running Boeing. But I think an understanding of what went wrong in the past, that’s very important,” IATA director general Willie Walsh said at the conference.
Mega Boeing order
Speaking at the IATA annual general meeting, Clark said that the Dubai-based Emirates has placed a $50 billion-plus order for Boeing 777s and 787s, and it had become important for the carrier to “be tough on those partners with whom we have agreements in place”.
Because of the delays, Clark said Emirates is unlikely to get its first B777 before 2026.
“This means we must retain and refurbish our existing 777s,” he said.
Clark said the manufacturer should address how things are done “on the shop floor and listen to the workers”.
“We had the same thing at Airbus with the A380. There were two IT systems that didn’t speak to each other, and it was the engineers on the floor that sorted that out,” he said.
For more logistics news, click here.
