Emirates unveils new UK boss

Conrad Clifford, the former chief executive of Virgin Nigeria, is to be the new Vice President of Emirates Airline for the UK and Ireland.

He will be replacing Vic Sheppard, who is retiring this year after 13 years with Emirates during which time the airline’s operations in the UK have grown from four services a day from three airports to today’s 14 flights a day from six gateways.

Clifford, 51, will join the airline in September after a four-year spell with Virgin Nigeria during which he has overseen its establishment. Within 12 months it became Nigeria’s biggest airline with a network of domestic, regional and international routes.

A career aviation specialist, Clifford began in 1981 as a trainee with Cathay Pacific, holding a range of managerial roles throughout Asia and the Far East until 1995.

He then joined Virgin Atlantic in the UK as General Manager, Commercial, rising to Commercial Director. After 9/11 he was Virgin Atlantic’s Crisis Commander and during his eight years at Virgin he was instrumental in setting up the airline’s operations in South Africa, Nigeria and India.

In 2002, he became Commercial Director of Menzies Aviation Group, rising to Director, Asia, South Pacific and Africa, turning some of the region’s loss makers into profitability within 12 months. He returned to Virgin in 2005 to oversee the establishment of Virgin Nigeria, which was 51 per cent owned by Nigerian investors, and 49 per owned by Virgin Atlantic.

Richard Vaughan, Emirates’ Divisional Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Worldwide, said: “Conrad has invaluable experience in many of Emirates' key destinations and is the perfect candidate to oversee the continued further growth of our UK operation, which remains our largest market outside of Dubai.

“Vic will be a very hard act to follow and can rightly look back with pride on a period of sustained growth for Emirates in the highly competitive UK market which is the envy of our competitors.”

Clifford said: “Emirates continues to set the pace in world aviation and I am proud to be given the opportunity to strengthen even further its position as a carrier of outstanding quality and innovation.

“I join at a time of challenging market conditions in which the strength of Emirates’ brand is a vital asset. Vic has set the bar high for his successor but I am looking forward to the task tremendously.”

Clifford, who is married with two teenage sons, holds an MA from Cambridge and an MBA from Durham.