Emirates airline doesn’t see travel recovery until year-end

Emirates airline doesn’t see travel recovery until year-end

Clark said he expected governments would continue to close borders and place restrictions on international travel DUBAI- International travel is likely to remain subdued until the end of the year as countries reintroduce tough restrictions to control COVID-19 infections, the head of Dubai-based airline Emirates said on Wednesday. The comments from Tim Clark represent a more pessimistic view after he told Reuters last month he did not believe the recovery would be further impeded by a new wave of infections and restrictions. "It is going to take longer than I would have hoped and I think probably we are going to see some difficulties. We are not going to see capacity return that I hoped in July and August, I think, maybe (it will return) in the last quarter this year," Clark told a virtual summit by aviation consultancy CAPA. Britain this week announced passengers arriving from certain countries would have to enter mandatory hotel quarantine for 10 days, a similar system to Australia. Clark, who has delayed his retirement to tackle the coronavirus crisis, said countries like Britain had taken "fairly draconian positions" with regards to international travel. The British government has said the stronger measures are needed to