The Emirates Group Wednesday announced its half-yearly results, which show steady performance and growth, despite a challenging business environment marked by ongoing health pandemic concerns, regional conflicts and weakening global markets.

The Emirates Group revenues reached AED47.5 billion ($12.9 billion) for the first six months (H1) of its 2014-2015 fiscal year, up 12 percent from AED42.3 billion ($11.5 billion) from the same period last year.

Net profit for the group rose to AED2.2 billion ($607 million) an increase of one percent over the last year’s results. The group’s cash position on Sept. 30, 2014 was at AED16.1 billion ($4.4 billion), compared to AED19 billion ($5.2 billion) as at March 31, 2014. This is due to ongoing investments mainly into new aircraft and other airline related infrastructure projects.

“As the biggest operator at Dubai International, we also took the biggest hit to our bottom line from the 80-day runway upgrading works. However, we had anticipated it and made meticulous plans to minimize impact operationally and commercially for both Emirates and dnata. The success of these plans can be seen in our overall growth during this six-month period in spite of the challenge,” said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, chairman and chief executive, Emirates Airline and Group.

He added: “It is those external threats that we cannot anticipate or directly manage, such as the global economic malaise, the Ebola outbreak, currency fluctuations and regional conflicts, that could negate our efforts and plans. These issues appear to be piling up, impacting commercial aviation and travel, but show no signs of speedy resolution. Therefore, it is critical that we stay agile as we grow. The ability to adapt and act quickly will determine our continued success. Moving forward, we will keep a watchful eye on these challenges, but continue to focus on our long-term goals and invest in the infrastructure of both Emirates and dnata.”

In the past six months, the group continued to develop and expand its employee base, increasing its overall staff count by 5 percent to over 79,000 compared with March 31, 2014.

During the first six months of the fiscal year, Emirates received 13 wide-body aircraft — six A380s and seven Boeing 777s, with 11 more new aircraft scheduled to be delivered before the end of the financial year (March 31, 2015).