Emirates Airline posts $452m profit in H1 2017/2018

DUBAI — Emirates Airline, the world's biggest long-haul carrier, said here on Thursday in an e-mailed statement it posted in the first six months of its fiscal year 2017/2018 a profit of $452 million, up 111 percent year-on-year.

The Dubai government-controlled airline attributed the increase to the easing of the strong dollar and enhancement of efficiency.

About 29.2 million passengers were carried from April to September, up four percent and on overall capacity expansion of two percent, the top client of the Airbus A380 Superjumbo said.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, chairman and chief executive of?Emirates Airline and Group said, "The easing of the strong US dollar against other major currencies helped our profitability. We are also seeing the benefit from various initiatives across the company to enhance our capability and efficiency with new technologies and new ways of working."

He added, "Our margins continue to face strong downward pressure from increased competition and oil prices, and we still face weak economic and uncertain political realities in many parts of the world. Yet, the Group has improved revenue and profit performance."

Moving forward, the chairman said "we will continue to keep a careful eye on costs while investing to grow our business and provide our customers with world-class products and services."

As of September 30, Emirates' global network spanned 156 destinations in 84 countries. Its fleet stood at 264 aircrafts including freighters.

Earlier in June this year, China's civil aviation authority has fined Emirates, and denied it from adding new destinations to the world's most populous country for six months, following two cases of "unsafe operations."

Emirates operates to five destinations in China: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Yinchuan and Zhengzhou.