The Emirates Group has announced its best-ever six-month financial result of a net profit of AED 10.1 billion (US$ 2.7 billion), surpassing its record half-year profit of AED 4.2 billion (US$ 1.2 billion) last year by 138%.

The Group also reported an EBITDA of AED 20.6 billion (US$ 5.6 billion), a significant improvement from AED 15.3 billion (US$ 4.2 billion) during the same period last year, illustrating its strong operating profitability.

Group revenue was AED 67.3 billion (US$ 18.3 billion) for the first six months of 2023-24, up 20% from AED 56.3 billion (US$ 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 (below) said: “We are seeing the fruition of our plans to return stronger and better from the dark days of the pandemic. The Group has surpassed previous records to report our best-ever half-year performance. Our profit for the first six months of 2023-24 has nearly matched our record full-year profit in 2022-23. This is a tremendous achievement that speaks to the talent and commitment within the organisation, the strength of our business model, and the power of Dubai’s vision and policies that have enabled the creation of a strong, resilient, and progressive aviation sector.

“Across the Group, we’ve continued to ramp up operations safely and move nimbly to meet customer demand. We’ve implemented a series of service and product enhancements to win customer preference, and we’ll continue to invest in our people, products, partnerships, and technology to strengthen our capabilities and ensure we are future-ready.”

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.”

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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.

Emirates continued to increase its global flight operations, adding capacity and connections through its Dubai hub to meet customer demand across markets. During the first half of 2023-24, the airline restored 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 A380 aircraft rolled out of Emirates’ retrofit programme with completely refreshed cabin interiors and the latest onboard products including Premium Economy seats. This enabled the airline to deploy its highly sought-after Premium Economy services on more new routes including New York JFK, Houston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Singapore.

Overall capacity during the first six months of the year increased by 25% to 28.5 billion Available Tonne Kilometres (ATKM) due to an expanded flight programme. Capacity measured in Available Seat Kilometres (ASKM), increased by 30%, whilst passenger traffic carried measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKM) was up by 35% with an average Passenger Seat Factor of 81.5%, compared with 78.5% during the same period last year.

Emirates carried 26.1 million passengers between 1 April and 30 September 2023, up 31% from the same period last year. Emirates Skycargo uplifted 1,035,000 tonnes in the first six months of the year, an 11% increase compared to the same period last year despite an overall softening in the global cargo market. This reflects the cargo division’s ability to meet customer demand with specialised products, and the excellent network options on offer with its freighter and bellyhold cargo operations.

Emirates’ direct operating costs (including fuel) grew by 9% in line with increased operations. Fuel remains the largest component of the airline’s operating cost (34%), compared to 38% in the same period last year.