Media ININ Economy We Trust
Media IN/Abu-Dhabi/09-05-2019: Aviator
The Emirates Group today Thursday announced steady revenue growth in its annual report 2018-19, which saw its profits being bolstered by a significant rise in oil prices, plus unfavourable currency movements in certain markets.
The group said in a statement that despite many challenges faced by the airline and travel industry, it generated a revenue of Dh54.4 billion for the first six months of its 2018-19 financial year, up 10 per cent compared to the same period in 2017.
H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group, said, “2018-19 has been tough, and our performance was not as strong as we would have liked. Higher oil prices and the strengthened US dollar eroded our earnings, even as competition intensified in our key markets. The uptick in global airfreight demand from the previous year appears to have gone into reverse gear, and we also saw travel demand weaken, particularly in our region, impacting both dnata and Emirates.”
“Demand for our high quality products and services remained healthy, as we won new and return customers across our businesses and this is reflected in our revenue performance. However, the high fuel cost – as well as currency devaluations in markets like India, Brazil, Angola and Iran – wiped approximately Dh4.6 billion from our profits.”
“I am pleased to note that our home and hub in Dubai continues to attract travel demand, as the airline saw nine per cent more customers enjoying Dubai as a destination in the first half of 2018-19 compared to the same period last year. We expect this demand to remain healthy as new attractions come online and the city gears up for Expo 2020 Dubai.”
During the first six months, Emirates received eight wide-body aircraft – three Airbus A380s and five Boeing 777s – with five more new aircraft scheduled to be delivered before the end of the financial year. It also retired seven older aircraft from its fleet with further four to be returned by March 31, 2019.
The airline’s revenue rose 10 per cent to Dh48.9 billion, and profit declined 86 per cent to Dh226 million as it carried 30.1 million passengers, up three per cent, on overall capacity expansion of three per cent.
With the world’s largest Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 fleets, Emirates has had to adapt its business model, redeploy capacity and indeed better match its fare structure to cope with the double-whammy of fuel costs as well as damaging currency fluctuations, said Ahmad.
“Emirates will no doubt remain a profitably entity when it reports its full year earnings in May next year, but it has started to mitigate against the competitive landscape by deepening its links with flydubai – the synergies and enhanced customer network development will assist the airline in more meaningful cost reductions and savings operationally,” said Ahmed.
Revenue of dnata rose 11 per cent to Dh7 billion, profit up 31 per cent to Dh861 million, including gains of Dh320 million from one-time transaction.
During this period, Emirates launched new passenger services to Stansted in the UK and Santiago in Chile. It also introduced a new linked service from Dubai via Bali to Auckland. As of September 30, Emirates’ global network spanned 161 destinations in 85 countries. Its fleet stood at 269 aircraft including freighters.
