- Emirates president Tim Clark told Business Insider how he thinks Boeing can get out of its “mess.”
- He said the company should treat workers better: “You look after the people, they look after you.”
- Boeing delivered 348 planes in 2024, the lowest number since the pandemic.
The boss of one of Boeing’s biggest customers has a blunt message for its new CEO: treat your workers better.
Tim Clark, the president of Emirates airline, told Business Insider in an interview: “You look after the people, they look after you. I think they’ve been offsided by the previous management for too long.”
“Have you got yourself into a mess like this because you prided yourself on treating them badly and not giving them a deal when you were making fat profits and taking bonuses at board level? Really? That’s not the way to run a business. You need to get people with you.
“So if you look after the guys and share the loot, you probably won’t have such a forceful union,” Clark added.
A seven-week strike exacerbated Boeing’s troubles last year. Tensions flared and the acting labor secretary went to Seattle to help broker negotiations.
Union members approved the company’s fourth offer, which will increase pay by 38% over four years. It also included a $12,000 ratification bonus.
Dubai-based Emirates is one of Boeing’s biggest customers. It has the world’s largest fleet of Boeing 777s and has ordered more than 200 of the modernized 777X variant, which has faced several certification delays.
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The embattled planemaker delivered 348 planes in 2024, its lowest number since the pandemic, as it grappled with the fallout from January’s Alaska Airlines blowout.
Boeing is working to overhaul its production processes and get back on track. It’s now led by Kelly Ortberg, who took over as CEO in August.
Clark thinks it will take years for the company to fully recover: “The hiatus, for me, is likely to last until the end of this decade.”
“Produce good quality, safe aircraft, and the profits will come,” he told BI. “If you prioritize one before the other, in an incorrect manner as happened over the last 10 years, then you will reap the whirlwind.”
He added: “Don’t worry about what City analysts or the Wall Street analysts are telling you what you can and can’t do. Just get on with the job, produce very good airplanes. I promise you, we’ll buy them in large numbers — we as an industry.”
Clark said he wanted to see the planemaker recover from its woes and turn things around.
“We need Boeing — we need them to get back to the type of company that produced the excellent aircraft they always used to do,” he said.
Shares in Boeing fell 31% in 2024, making it the biggest faller of the 30 stock in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.
