Emirates Airlines made a profit of $2.9 billion, compared to a loss of $1.1 billion in the last financial year, driven by the return of demand for air travel.
The airline had posted losses of $6 billion in the 2020-2021 fiscal year under the brunt of Covid, in the first results of its kind in more than three decades as its fleet ceased flying.
The group’s cash balances reached $11.6 billion, the highest on record, compared with a loss of $1 billion last year.
Together with these good results, the group succeeded in repaying 817 million dollars before maturity out of the 4.8 billion dollars that it collected during the pandemic period, also succeeded during the last financial year in rescheduling 1.2 billion of debt this fiscal year and took in $330 million to finance the purchase of two new Boeing 777s on an Islamic lease with good margins.
To celebrate these results, the Emirates Group has awarded its teams a bonus equivalent to 24 weeks’ salary, to be paid in May wages.The total number of Emirates Group employees has increased by 20% to 102 thousand and 379 employees, representing more than 160 different nationalities.
In another context, Emirates Airlines has allocated approximately $200 million to a research fund which focuses on reducing the impact of fossil fuels in commercial aviation, noting that it will not be possible to achieve the objective of achieving net zero emissions with the options currently available.
The company said the money will be spent over three years and it will identify partnerships with institutions concerned with fuel and energy technologies.
The strong demand for air travel, which the group has benefited from, was also reflected in the number of passengers passing through Dubai Airport. During the first quarter of this year, the airport handled around 21.2 million passengers, which is close to the travel indicators achieved during the same period in 2019 of 95.6%.
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