DUBAI, 17 November 2004 — The Dubai-based airline Emirates yesterday announced that net profits jumped more than 40 percent in the first six months of its financial year, despite being hit by the soaring price of fuel.
Emirates said net profits were $236 million (865 million dihrams) for period ending Sept. 30, its best-ever results for a half year and a 41 percent rise on the figure for a year earlier.
Strong demand from both passengers and cargo helped the fast-growing airline offset higher costs from escalating jet fuel prices, which it said had a severe impact in the second quarter.
“These excellent results owe a great deal to a superb performance in the first quarter, while in the second quarter we started being severely impacted by the dramatic increase in jet fuel prices,” Emirates Chairman Sheikh Ahmed ibn Saeed Al-Maktoum said in a statement.
“This is still affecting our performance and has forced us to adopt some stringent cost-containment measures, like a hiring freeze on non-operational staff,” he added.
Sheikh Ahmed said that high fuel prices were expected to continue in the medium term, but the profitability of the airline remained a “very high priority.”
Sales came in at $2.2 billion for the half-year, up 42 percent from the year earlier. For its previous 2003-2004 financial year, Emirates announced profits of $476 million, up 67 percent on the year before.
Emirates has ordered around 100 new aircraft, including 45 of the new Airbus A380. By 2012 it expects to have twice as many jets in its fleet as the 71 flying today.
The results come two weeks after the head of Air France-KLM, Jean-Cyril Spinetta, urged Emirates to open its accounts to see if they are based on fair competition principles.Emirates insists it receives neither government subsidies nor has privileged access to oil markets.