Emirates Profit Dives 72 Percent

Emirates airline’s parent company said its profit slid 72 percent in the year ending March 31 as the global downturn hit even the financially strong Middle East carrier.

The Emirates Group net profit was $406 million on revenue that climbed 10.4 percent to $12.6 billion. Demand decreased in the second half of the year, the Group said, as yields declined with the strengthening of the U.S. dollar.

Fuel costs, which remained the top expenditure, amounted to an unprecedented 36.2 percent of airline operating costs as the price of oil rose to $147 per barrel in July.

Emirates SkyCargo showed improvement despite growing fuel costs and falling demand. The division carried 1.4 million tonnes of cargo, up 9.8 percent compared with the previous year. Cargo revenue increased 14.8 percent to $2.1 billion. Cargo revenue contributed 19 percent to the airline’s total transport revenue.

The airline took delivery of its first 777 freighter at the end of the fiscal year, bringing the total freighter fleet to eight aircraft. Emirates plans to take delivery of 18 new passenger aircraft in the coming year, confident of growth in the coming year while acknowledging the outlook is not improving.

“Our development plans remain unchanged,” said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, chairman and chief executive of the airline and the group. “We have weathered the last twelve months with satisfactory growth, maintained the quality of our award-winning service, and maintained staff numbers in the face of an unsettled future. We will continue to forge ahead to build the airline, Dnata and the many subsidiary companies that are part of the Emirates Group.”

Contact Thomas L. Gallagher at tgallagher@joc.com.