In November, The Emirates Group announced its best-ever six-month financial result (April-September 2023), reporting a 2023-24 half-year net profit of AED10.1 billion (US$2.7 billion), surpassing last year’s record half-year profit of AED4.2 billion ($1.2 billion) by 138%.
Group revenue was AED67.3 billion ($18.3 billion) for the first six months of 2023-24, up 20% from AED56.3 billion ($15.3 billion) last year. This was driven by strong demand for air transport across the world, which has been on an upward trajectory since the last pandemic travel restrictions were lifted.
His Highness (HH) Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group, said: “We are seeing the fruition of our plans to return stronger and better from the dark days of the pandemic.”
HH Sheikh Ahmed added: “For the second half of 2023-24, we expect customer demand across our business divisions to remain healthy and we will stay agile in how we deploy our resources in this dynamic marketplace. At the same time, we are keeping a close watch on headwinds such as rising fuel prices, the strengthening US dollar, inflationary costs and geopolitics”.
To support increased operations and business activities, the Emirates Group’s employee base, compared to 31 March 2023, grew 6% to an overall count of 108,996 on 30 September 2023. Both Emirates and dnata have ongoing recruitment drives to support their future requirements.
During the first half of 2023-24, the airline restored Airbus A380 operations to Bali, Beijing, Birmingham, Casablanca, Nice, Shanghai and Taiwan.
In July, it launched daily non-stop services to Montreal, a new destination and the airline’s second gateway in Canada.
By 30 September, the airline was operating passenger and cargo services to 144 airports, utilising its entire Boeing 777 fleet and 104 A380s.
During the first six months of 2023-24, 10 A380s rolled out of Emirates’ retrofit programme with completely refreshed cabin interiors and the latest onboard products including Premium Economy seats.
