Manila Bulletin
May 12, 2012
DUBAI Dubai’s Emirates airline group posted a 61 per cent slump in net profit in the year to March 31 due to unprecedented economic pressures and record high fuel prices, the company said on Thursday.
Total profits for Emirates Group, including all of its subsidiaries, dropped to 2.3 billion dirhams ($629 million) in 2011-2012 from 5.9 billion dirhams ($1.6 billion) for the previous year, the company said.
Net profits for the airline alone stood at 1.5 billion dirhams ($409 million), compared with 5.4 billion dirhams ($1.5 billion) for the same period in the year before. “Achieving our 24th consecutive year of profit and maintaining an upward growth trajectory is an achievement that belies the industry norm,” said chairman and chief executive Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum.
Despite a difficult operating environment, Emirates Group said it continued to invest in and expand on its employee base, increasing its overall staff count by more than 10 per cent.
The company also attributed part of the drop in profits to massive new investments. “Throughout the 2011-12 financial year the Group has collectively invested close to 14 billion dirhams ($3.8 billion) in new products. This investment has garnered new customers and increased our international presence,” Ahmed said.
During the year, Emirates acquired a staggering 22 new aircraft, its highest in any single year, funded by a wide variety of financing structures, it said.
Emirates airlines, considered the world’s fastest growing carrier, has a fleet of 162 wide-bodied aircraft serving 115 destinations in 67 countries. In the past few years, it has made orders worth tens of billions of dollars including around 90 Boeing 777 planes, 73 Airbus A380 superjumbos, as well as 70 Airbus A350s.
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