Emirates airlines Boeing 777-31H(ER) takes off from Los Angeles international Airport on January 13, 2021.
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Emirates Group posted its highest-ever fiscal half-year earnings, reporting net profit of 10.1 billion dirhams ($2.75 billion) for 2023-24 on rebounding demand.
The figure eclipsed its half-year profit of the previous yr — 4.2 billion dirhams — by 138%.
The earnings beat was driven by strong demand for international travel, because the industry continues its recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. Group revenue was 67.3 billion dirhams, up 20% from the previous yr’s six-month revenue figure.
Emirates Group, the state-owned Dubai-based holding company of which Emirates Airline is a subsidiary, also reported a figure for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of 20.6 billion dirhams, up from 15.3 billion dirhams in the identical period last yr. It reported its money position at 42.7 billion dirhams.
“The Group has been capable of tap by itself strong money reserves to support business needs, including debt payments,” the corporate’s earnings statement said, adding that Emirates has reimbursed 9.2 billion dirhams of its Covid-19 related loans and the group has paid 4.5 billion dirhams in dividend to its owner, which was declared at the top of the 2022-23 financial yr.
Emirates Airline and Group Chairman and CEO Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al Maktoum said in an accompanying statement: “We’re seeing the fruition of our plans to return stronger and higher from the dark days of the pandemic. The Group has surpassed previous records to report our best-ever half-year performance.”
He added that the group’s profit for the primary six months of the 2023-2024 financial yr has “nearly matched our record full yr profit in 2022-23.”
“For the second half of 2023-24, we expect customer demand across our business divisions to stay healthy and we’ll stay agile in how we deploy our resources on this dynamic marketplace,” Al Maktoum said. “At the identical time, we’re keeping a detailed watch on headwinds equivalent to rising fuel prices, the strengthening US dollar, inflationary costs, and geo-politics.”
