Dubai's Emirates airline today denied any immediate plans to list on the stock market, an Al Arabiya News report said.

Reacting to a report in The Telegraph that the airline that Dubai is considering selling off part of the lucrative state-owned airline, Emirates president Sir Tim Clark told Al Arabiya News that he was “surprised” at the report.

“We are under no instructions on IPOs whatsoever,” Clark said. “It hasn’t come up in conversation for four or five years.”

The Telegraph quoted Mohammed Al-Shaibani, executive director and CEO of the Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD), as saying that Dubai is considering floating parts of assets such as Emirates, Fly Dubai and Dubai Airports.

ICD holds stakes in Emirates and numerous other high-profile state assets such as developer Emaar, Dubai Duty Free and Emirates NBD.

Clark noted that any such decision to list was up to Emirates’ owners, rather than the airline itself, said the Al Arabiya report.