DUBAI, 28 April 2005 — Dubai’s airline Emirates Group made record net profits of 2.6 billion dirhams ($708 million) for the financial year to March 31, a whopping 49-percent rise on the previous year despite high oil prices. “We’ve had yet another successful year for the company, and the 17th consecutive profitable one for the airline,” Emirates Chairman Ahmed ibn Saeed Al-Maktoum said in a statement.
The cash balance of the group, which comprises Emirates Airline, Dnata and associated companies, stood at 8.2 billion dirhams ($2.2 billion), up 12 percent on the previous year.
The ownership will be paid a dividend of 368 million dirhams ($100 million). Emirates Airline, which alone recorded profits of 2.3 billion dirhams ($626 million), carried 12.5 million passengers in the last financial year.
Emirates SkyCargo carried nearly 840,000 tons of freight, 27 percent more than in 2003-2004. The division’s revenue rose 43 percent to 3.4 billion dirhams ($926 million), contributing up to 21 percent of the airline’s transport turnover.
Dnata profits were recorded at 260 million dirhams ($71 million). “We are gratified by the strong financial results of the group. The rapid-growth Emirates business model requires a high rate of return to sustain our enormous investments in people, advanced equipment and facilities, as well as in IT and other support services,” said Ahmed.
The net profit figure for the group in 2003-2004 was 1.75 billion dirhams ($476 million). “Since we started the airline in 1985, our competitors seem to find it incomprehensible that we can make profits by having a skilful team which works hard, is a market leader and invests heavily in new equipment - surely the criteria for any successful company?” Ahmed said. Emirates has been bucking the world trend. Earlier this month the main industry association warned that major airlines face greater losses than last year because of the surge in oil prices. “The high price of fuel is robbing our profitability,” Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said in a statement.
Total losses in the airline industry reached $4.8 billion in 2004 as the fuel bill rose, according to IATA. But Emirates has expanded its fleet by nine aircraft to 75 during the latest financial year, including 70 passenger aircraft and six freighters. Serving 79 cities in 55 countries, the government-owned airline has on order 45 Airbus A380-800s, 28 more Boeing 777-300ERs, two Airbus A340-500s, three A310-300 freighters and 20 Airbus A340-600 Higher Gross Weight aircraft, totaling some $30 billion. The arrival of the first two of 30 Boeing 777-300ERs last month “heralded the start of a new expansion cycle in the airline’s huge order program, which will see another 97 wide-body aircraft being delivered at an average rate of one per month for the next eight years,” the statement said.
