President of the Emirates dismissed predictions of a prolonged drop in travel.

Emirates boss Tim Clark expects a dynamic recovery in air travel demand to begin “sooner rather than later”, he told an online forum on Wednesday, describing the industry’s coronavirus crisis as a glitch from which the Gulf carrier can fully recover, Reuters reported

See also: Emirates expands its network in Europe to 31 destinations.

Speaking at CAPA Live, the airline leader dismissed predictions of a prolonged drop in travel.

“I’m not one of these people who believes in the ‘new normal’,” Clark said. “I believe demand will return in a very robust manner.”

See also: U.S. fines the Emirates $400,000 for flying over Iranian airspace.

“The pandemic is a glitch,” Clark said of the aviation industry’s worst crisis. “We’ve had many of those in the past – perhaps not as severe as this one for our industry – but nevertheless it’s a glitch and we’ll come through it.”

Clark nonetheless expects the crisis to “get worse before it gets better”, with demand remaining depressed for another six to nine months.