This is how Emirates made a $1.1 billion loss!
Emirates reported a $1.1 billion loss for the fiscal year ending March 31 which adds up to the $5.5 billion loss the previous year. But the financial result show a massive improvement compared to last year.
The airline has resumed flights to 140 destinations, but the continued rise in fuel prices remains challenging though it is adding more passengers lately.
Emirates reported that fuel accounted for 23 percent of operating costs last year, compared to 14 percent in 2020-21.
The Dubai Airline, CNBC says, narrowed its losses to $1.1 billion in the year to March, reporting a revenue jump of 91% to $16.1 billion dollars.
“2021-22 was largely about recovery, after the toughest year in our Group’s history,” Emirates Group Chairman and Chief Executive Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said in a statement last week.
“We expect the Group to return to profitability in 2022-23, and are working hard to hit our targets, while keeping a close watch on headwinds such as high fuel prices, inflation, new COVID-19 variants, and political and economic uncertainty.”
“It’s very difficult to establish where that price will stop, or how far it might go down,” Sheikh Ahmed said in an interview on Tuesday.
“That’s really affecting the airline business in a big way,” he says talking on fuel prices, adding that geopolitics and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was having a significant impact on fuel prices.
Robust customer demand drove a huge improvement in our financial performance compared to our unprecedented losses of last year and we built up our strong cash balance.
Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum.
More Passengers for Emirates
Throughout the year, Emirates added more passenger and freight capacity. It carried 19.6 million passengers, up from 6.6 million the previous year, added its final five Airbus A380 planes, and invested $2.2 billion in new planes.
All of Emirates’ Boeing B777s and half of its A380s had returned to service by the end of March. Its fleet consists of 262 planes with an average age of 8.2 years, and another 197 planes, including 30 Boeing B787s, have been ordered.
The airline serves over 140 destinations, 29 of which are served by A380 aircraft. It strengthened strategic alliances with Qantas and flydubai, expanding travel options to and from Dubai. Emirates has also strengthened alliances with airlines such as Aeromar, airBaltic, Azul Airlines, South African Airways, and TAP Air Portugal.