Dubai: Emirates airline president Sir Tim Clark has revealed that he had been considering stepping down after the carrier reported record profits earlier this year, but escalating tensions in the region disrupted his retirement plans.

“I thought the time had come, and suddenly war broke out. Here we are again,” Clark told the annual economic summit organised by German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung in Berlin, according to Bloomberg.

He noted that this was the second time global events had forced him to postpone his retirement, after the Covid-19 pandemic derailed his earlier plans to step down.

Clark, a British citizen who holds a knighthood, has been working for the carrier ever since the 1980s. Emirates is the world's largest long-distance airline, and the industry watches its succession plan closely.