Emirates’ profits soar
Emirates Group made a half-year net profit of US$631 million, up 77% on the same period last year, despite a rise in oil prices and other challenges for the airline and travel industry.
Its revenue rose 6% to $13.5 billion for the six-month period.
Chairman and chief executive Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said: "A lot of the credit for our 2017-18 half-year results goes to our talented workforce who have worked hard to improve our business performance, and address our challenges without compromising on quality and service.
"Our margins continue to face strong downward pressure from increased competition, oil prices have risen, and we still face weak economic and uncertain political realities in many parts of the world. Yet, the Group has improved revenue and profit performance. This speaks to the resilience of our business model, and the agility of our people."
He said profits were helped by the easing of the strong US dollar against other major currencies. "We are also seeing the benefit from various initiatives across the company to enhance our capability and efficiency with new technologies and new ways of working.
"Moving forward, we will continue to keep a careful eye on costs while investing to grow our business and provide our customers with world-class products and services."
Emirates carried 29.2 million passengers between April and September, up 4% from the same period last year.
In the first half of the 2017-18 financial year,~Emirates net profit was $ 452 million, up 111%, compared to last year, due to improved seat load factors, tight control on capacity deployment, and the strengthening of currencies in Emirates’ key markets against the US dollar.
Emirates operating costs grew by 4% against the overall capacity increase of 2%.
On average, fuel costs were 14% higher compared to the same period last year, this was largely due to an increase in oil prices (up 11% compared to same period last year), as well as an increase in fuel uplift of 3% due to Emirates’ expanding fleet operations.
Dnata’s profit was up 20% to $180 million, due to cost efficiencies and strong performances in its airport divisions. Dnata’s travel division contributed $420 million to revenue, up 3%.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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