Tim Clark

Tim Clark (born 22 November 1949 in Aruba) is a British business executive who has been president of Emirates since January 2003, having joined its founding team in 1985 from Gulf Air, and who was managing director of SriLankan Airlines until 2008. He was appointed KBE in 2014, acquired Emirati citizenship in 2021, and chairs the Emirates Airline Foundation charity. ^{1 2}

Clark was born on 22 November 1949 in Aruba. ^{1 2} He attended Kent College, Canterbury, is a fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, and is an economics graduate of the University of London. ¹ The article records that he is married with three children. ¹ In 2021 he acquired Emirati citizenship, under the UAE's programme of offering passports to selected expatriates. ¹

Clark entered civil aviation in 1972 with British Caledonian, moved in 1975 to Pakistan International Airlines and then to Gulf Air in Bahrain, and in 1985 came to Dubai as a member of the founding team of Emirates, as Head of Airline Planning. ¹ He became president of Emirates in January 2003. ¹ From 1998 he was also managing director of SriLankan Airlines, a post that followed Emirates' acquisition of a 40 per cent stake in the airline and ended in 2008 when the Sri Lankan government took control and the management contract was not renewed. ¹ He is chairman of the Emirates Airline Foundation, the airline's non-profit charity providing humanitarian aid and services for children in need. ¹ In December 2019 he announced he would step down as president, but delayed his retirement because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and he remains in the post. ¹ Aviation Week named him its 2013 Person of the Year, and he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to British prosperity and to the aviation industry. ¹

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