Emirates Group CEO and Chairman Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum described the company’s half-year results as a “record performance” with pre-tax profits rising to AED 9.3 billion ($2.5 billion) over the period.
Emirates Group surpassed its own previous best performance recorded last year with the first six months of 2024-25 showing pre-tax profits of AED 10.4 billion ($2.8 billion), an increase of 1%.
The half-year results published on November 7, 2024, was the first financial year that the UAE corporate income tax (9%) was applied to the Emirates Group.
Emirates Group revenue was AED 70.8 billion (19.3 billion) for the first six months of 2024-25, up 5% from AED 67.3 billion ($18.3 billion) last year.
Emirates Airlines’ revenue was up 5% to AED 62.2 billion ($16.9 billion), with profit before tax of AED 9.7 billion ($2.6 billion), up 2% compared to the same period last year.
The company said that the airlines’ performance reflected “strong travel and air cargo demand across regions, and the airline’s ability to win customer preference with ongoing investments in products and services”.
“The Group has surpassed its record performance of last year to deliver a fantastic result for the first half of 2024-25. 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,” said Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum.
He added: “The Group’s strong profitability enables us to make the investments necessary for our continued success. 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; and to look after our employees who work hard every day to ensure our customers’ safety and satisfaction.”
Highlights from the six months includes three Airbus A380s and five Boeing 777s rolling out after an AED $4 billion ($1,089 billion) retrofit program and new signature Emirates Lounges for premium customers in London-Stansted Airport (STN) and King Abdulaziz International Airport (JED) in Jeddah.
Emirates SkyCargo also transported 1,198,000 tons in the first six months of the year, up 16% compared to the same period last year.
“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. 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,” added Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum.