By:Gulfnews

Dubai: Emirates Group, Emirates' airlines parent company, reported a profit before tax of Dh10.4 billion for the first six months of its current financial year. This profit was generated from revenues of Dh70.8 billion.

“I am proud to announce that The Emirates Group has surpassed its record performance of last year to deliver a fantastic result for the first half of 2024-25,” said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group, in a tweet.

Factoring in corporate tax, Emirates Group’s profit after tax for the period is Dh9.3 billion ($2.5 billion).

How do Emirates' numbers stack up?

On the profit side, Emirates has hit new highs. On Thursday, the carrier reported profits before tax of Dh10.4 billion ($ 2.8 billion), up 1% from last year. The carrier’s revenues gained 5% to Dh70.8 billion ($19.3 billion), ‘driven by strong customer demand across its business divisions’.

“We expect customer demand to remain strong for the rest of 2024-25, and we look forward to increasing our capacity to grow revenues as new aircraft join the Emirates fleet and new facilities come online at dnata,” said Sheikh Ahmed. “The outlook is positive, but we don’t intend to rest on our laurels. We will stay agile in deploying our capacity and resources in a dynamic marketplace.”

"This again illustrates the power of our proven business model working in combination with Dubai’s growth trajectory as a city of choice to live, work, visit, connect through, and do business in," he said.

Amid jet delivery delays, the Dubai carrier expects to receive as many as 315 aircraft in the future as part of its fleet and network expansion plan. Of these, 65 are the Airbus A350-900, while the rest are Boeing aircraft. The airline now has 259 aircraft in its fleet, serving 148 destinations. The carrier, one of Dubai's biggest GDP drivers, currently employs 66,748 workers.

Cash reserves

Emirates—which has April to end September as its first half—closed with a ‘solid’ cash position of Dh43.7 billion ($11.9 billion) on March 31, 2024, up from Dh47.1 billion ($12.8 billion) on March 31, 2024.

“The Group has been able to tap on its own strong cash reserves to support business needs, including payments for new freighter aircraft orders and other debt payments,” said a statement.

The Group declared at the end of its 2023-24 financial year that it paid Dh2 billion in dividends to its owner, the Investment Corporation of Dubai.

“The Group’s strong profitability enables us to make the investments necessary for our continued success,” said Sheikh Ahmed. “We’re investing billions of dollars to bring new products and services to the market for our customers, to implement advanced technologies and other innovation projects to drive growth.”

Emirates explained that the airline’s direct operating costs (including fuel) grew by 6%, in line with increased operations. Fuel remains the largest component of the airline’s operating cost (32%), compared to 34% in the same period last year.