Emirates Group surges with Dh10.4 billion in profit before tax for half-year 2024-25

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 Airlines 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.

Enhanced connectivity

During the first half of this year, Dubai’s flagship airline increased scheduled flights to eight cities: Amsterdam, Cebu, Clark, Luanda, Lyon, Madrid, Manila, and Singapore. In May, it restarted daily services to Phnom Penh in Cambodia via Singapore.

In June, it launched daily services to Bogotá via Miami, expanding the airline’s South American presence to Colombia. In September, Emirates opened a new route to Madagascar via the Seychelles, taking its passenger and cargo network to 148 airports in 80 countries by September 30. The Dubai carrier has also entered into new agreements with seven codeshare, interline, and intermodal partners: AirPeace, Avianca, BLADE, ITA Airways, Iceland Air, SNCF Railway, and Viva Aerobus.

The airline has also invested Dh44 million to open new airport lounges in London Stansted and Jeddah airports and refurbished the existing facility at Paris Charles De Gaulle. In July, the airline opened a new concept travel store in Hong Kong, its first outside of the UAE, and plans are in place to launch more experiential stores around its network.

What dnata drew in

For the first half of 2024-25, dnata’s revenue—including other operating income—came to Dh10.4 billion ($2.8 billion), up 11% from the same period last year's Dh9.3 billion.

The overall profit before tax was Dh720 million, down 5%, primarily due to a one-off impairment charge of Dh152 million. dnata’s profit after tax is Dh571 million.

Airport operations remain the largest contributor to dnata's revenue with Dh4.8 billion (US$ 1.3 billion), a 15% increase compared to last year, as its airline customers’ operations continued to pick up, particularly in Australia, Singapore, the UAE and the UK.

dnata’s flight catering and retail operations contributed Dh3.7 billion (US$1.0 billion) to its revenue, and the travel division contributed Dh1.8 billion (US$483 million).