Tough Year For Emirates

A‘tough’ year, amid a stuttering economic climate in the Emirate: that is how Emirates Airlines explained a 69 per cent drop in net profits.

However, the optimism for the coming times does not seem to have been much impacted. Emirates’ President Sir Tim Clark was candid enough to point out, “We haven’t been growing at the pace we used to because of geopolitical issues in the region and elsewhere. But that’s given us time to take stock of what the network is going to look like in five to ten years, and what the fleet fit in that network and the type of aircraft is going to be,” he told media persons at the 2019 Arabian Travel Market.

The losses notwithstanding, Emirates continued its winning streak when it took top honours by sweeping five awards at the Business Traveller Middle East Awards 2019. The airline took home awards for Airline with the Best First Class, Airline with the Best Economy Class, Airline with the Best Frequent Flyer Program and Best Airport Lounge in the Middle East. The airline also took home the coveted award of Best Airline Worldwide.

The airlines had posted $237mn in net profits for the financial year ending in March compared to $765m in the previous year. “2018-19 has been tough, and our performance was not as strong as we would have liked,” Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum, the Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Group, had said in a statement.The airline said that the strengthening of the US dollar against most of the currencies of its key markets eroded $156m from profits. It’s fuel bill increased by 25 percent to $8.4bn, its biggest ever.