Emirates Announces Significantly Impacted Half-Year Financials

The Emirates Group announced its latest half-year financial results with numbers being significantly impacted by the effects of COVID-19. The group, which uses two, six-month financial periods spread across two calendar years, reported losses of 14.1 billion United Arab Emirates Dirham ($3.8 billion). 

The airline reported a revenue of just 11.7 billion United Arab Emirates Dirham, down nearly 75% from the same period last year. Losses will be attributed to lack of demand due to COVID-19 and worldwide travel restrictions and border closures associated with it. 

Emirates faced a tough start to the financial period suspending all passenger flights at the end of March and only resumed operations on May 21. As of Sept. 30, the airline was operating a total of 104 destinations between cargo and passenger flights. 

Besides a loss of more than 1,500% compared to last year, the airline lagged significantly in other passenger measures including a load factor of just 38.6%. This represented a decrease of 42.5% when compared to the same period as last year. On top of lower load factors, the airline saw passengers decrease by 95%. In last year’s reporting period, the airline carried 29.6 million passengers. The decreased demand meant that the carrier handled just 1.45 million passengers in six months.

During the time period of no scheduled passenger flights, Emirates relied on Emirates SkyCargo and the conversion of passenger aircraft into cargo carriers to provide additional revenue.

The airline temporarily converted 10 of the Boeing 777-300ER aircraft to complement Emirates SkyCargo’s fleet of 11 Boeing 777 Freighters. The modified passenger aircraft were used to operate additional flights to carry cargo that would have usually been carried as freight on passenger flights across Emirates’ network. 

Emirates CEO and Chairman, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said, “As passenger traffic disappeared, Emirates and dnata have been able to rapidly pivot to serve cargo demand and other pockets of opportunity.”

He continued, “No one can predict the future, but we expect a steep recovery in travel demand once a COVID-19 vaccine is available, and we are readying ourselves to serve that rebound. In the meantime, Emirates and dnata remain responsive in deploying resources to serve our customers and meet demand.”

Like most carriers around the world, the airline cut jobs due to the lack of revenue, retaining 75% of its employees year over year. At reporting, Emirates employed 45,000 employees down from the 60,000 as of last September. The Emirates Group states that it possesses cash assets of 20.7 billion United Arab Emirates Dirham, down 19% from 2019.

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