By Aziz El Yaakoubi

DUBAI (Reuters – Dubai’s president Tim Clark stated Monday that the government of Emirates is looking into an initial public offer for the airline. This comes as the authorities try to increase activity in the local stock exchange.

To encourage trade activity, the government of the Emirate plans to list 10 state-backed businesses on its stock exchange.

There has been much talk. Clark answered a question about a possible listing in an interview with Reuters Next.

I’m still waiting for instructions on how the Emirates Group will be affected by this. It is up to the Dubai government to decide what to do. In essence, I will do whatever they ask.

Emirates Chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum indicated earlier in this month that the carrier and its subsidiaries could be listed.

During the coronavirus epidemic, billions were invested in airline operations. Emirates state-owned has been able to receive around $3.8 Billion equity injections from Dubai.

Airline reported a loss at 5.8 billion dirham ($1.6billion) in the April-September period. This is down from the loss of 12.6 billion dirham in the same period last fiscal year.

Clark stated that he doesn’t expect any additional government support in the coming year, as long as there isn’t too much disruption from the coronavirus.

We are working quickly to restore our cash position. This is not possible, despite the Omicron variation and its effects… If the Omicron variant doesn’t have as many negative consequences as people think, then there will be no recourse for an owner who wants to invest equity in the company.

Clark stated that while Emirates will still experience a loss in 2018, it would be much smaller than the previous 12 months. He expects the airline to either break even or profit in 2022.

“It is a great pleasure to announce that we have already returned to profitability, in the past six, seven week, it’s been profitable,” he stated.

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