Emirates’ president has indicated that he believes there will be a fourth wave in the European coronavirus pandemic, which would concern the airline.

CNBC interviewed me at Dubai Air ShowEmirates President Tim Clark stated that he sees a fourth wave and has all kinds of worries about the future.

“We’ve got to look at it very carefully, because if the European markets — which have already started to open in a big way — start to go the other way we’re going to have to deal with that. But we will deal with it … we’re very good at working around problems, and we’ll just do what we have to do,” he told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble.

The WHO had warned earlier this month that Europe was once again the epicenter of the Covid pandemic. It is home to the biggest economy in the area. Germany, is currently reporting around 50,000 new coronavirus cases a dayFrance and England have also seen an increase in the number of cases. Austria is also expected to increase its cases in the near future. impose lockdown restrictions on millions of unvaccinated peopleIn an attempt to limit rising infections

After a difficult period, airlines have hoped that Dubai Air Show will be a turning point in the aviation industry. This is the first major exhibition of aerospace since the outbreak of coronavirus, which decimated the aviation industry worldwide.

According to the International Air Transport Association, last month’s global airline industry is expected to lose almost $12 billion next year. The IATA, which represents nearly 300 airlines that operate more than 80% of the world’s air traffic, added that industry losses in 2020 were worse than originally thought, coming in at $137.7 billion.

Clark however stated that Emirates already experienced a strong pick-up of demand and started to earn a profit.

His words were: “We’re rebounding with a high degree, dare i say, robustness.” He said, “Demand is returning at such an incredible pace that we are having difficulty trying supply assets because we have a shortage of pilots and cabin crew. We don’t even have enough of almost everything.” However, there is no shortage in demand. It’s a great story.

Clark talked about the problems Emirates had in finding enough employees to fill this need, having laid off hundreds of workers during the pandemic.

He said that supply chain disruptions are not the same thing as gross labor market distortions. However, he predicted that normalcy would return at the beginning of 2022, and possibly even early 2023. “I think then … the heat will come out of the situation. But I do hope.

Higher oil prices could be another potential threat to airlines. Higher oil prices could be a problem for airlines due to the demand shock caused by Covid’s pandemic. Brent crude oil prices fell to $20 per barrel, and they are now trading at over $80One barrel.

Clark stated that Clark was not afraid. “Of course, $80 – we’ve been there before. “We’ve been higher than that before,” added he. We are managing it at the moment. We don’t know what will happen. I believe we have about 15 months worth of turbulent weather, but it’ll all be fine.”

— CNBC’s Leslie Joseph contributed to this report.