Emirates, the world’s largest long-haul airline, said it’s expecting a surge in global travel on a scale beyond anything seen for many years once China fully reopens to overseas flights.

While most aviation markets are already “rebounding at pace,” the dropping of Covid-related curbs in the world’s second-largest economy will trigger a “tsunami” of bookings, Emirates president Tim Clark said on Wednesday.

“At some point, China will unleash demand for travel the likes of which we will not have seen for a long, long time,” Clark said in Berlin. “The longer they press the cork down in the water, the greater the velocity of return.”

Emirates is heavily dependent on Asian traffic flows, with its business based around inter-continental flights that link the region with the Americas, Europe, Africa and the Middle East via its hub in Dubai. Even so, the group was able to post a record first-half profit equivalent to more than $1bn through September amid the upswing in travel after two years of Covid disruption.

Clark said Emirates flights to Asian destinations that have already reopened, such as Thailand, Malaysia and Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, are essentially full.

Capacity cuts at carriers including Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd and PT Garuda Indonesia will mean the industry could struggle to cope with pent-up demand for the next few years, he said.

Source: Civil Aviation Authority – Qatar