The airline said on Wednesday that profits soared four-fold to $964m for the
year to the end of March over the previous year’s $267m, when it was hit by
high jet fuel prices. There was no press conference that year, when profits
tumbled 80 per cent.
Lower fuel prices, reduced staff costs and an improved load factor of 78 per
cent boosted earnings, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates chairman,
said on Wednesday.
Amid continued Middle Eastern passenger growth of about 8 per cent, according
to the International Air Transport Association, Emirates carried 27.5m
passengers, up 21 per cent, along with 1.6m tons of cargo, up 12 per cent.
Emirates group, which includes Dnata, the owner of Dubai airport, also
shrugged off the worst ravages of the global recession and reported
full-year profit of $1.1bn on revenues of $12.4bn at the airline's imposing
office next to Dubai airport.
Dubai airport, the airline's hub, has continued to expand through a global
recession that has hit the emirate's services and tourism-oriented economy
hard.
While Dubai's economy may have contracted by about 2.5 per cent last year, the
airport continues to report double-digit growth.
Sheikh Ahmed refused to be drawn on whether the airline would launch an
initial public offering to raise money for its main shareholder, the Dubai
government, which is still restructuring part of its debt load of about
$109bn.
Emirate's cash pile increased to $3.4bn, and Sheikh Ahmed said the airline did
not foresee any problems in financing the eight aircraft it is due to
receive this year.
The airline has firm orders for 140 aircraft worth $48bn as it continues to
target ambitious growth as a long-haul carrier linking Asia with Europe and
Africa and the Americas.
The fleet is due to rise to 150 aircraft by 2011, including seven new Airbus
superjumbo A380s and a new long-range Boeing 777-300ER.
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