New UK head for Emirates

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.
A career aviation specialist, Mr Clifford, 51, 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.
“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” said Mr Clifford
He is married with two teenage sons, holds an MA from Cambridge and an MBA from Durham.