Seoul: Dubai’s Emirates Group, which encompasses the Middle East’s largest airline, announced a record annual gross profit of $6.2 billion, marking its third consecutive record year. The profit reflects an 18 percent increase driven by strong customer demand, but was adjusted to $5.6 billion after accounting for the UAE’s newly introduced corporate tax, applied for a full financial year for the first time.
According to Lao News Agency, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the chairman of Emirates Group, stated that the group has surpassed previous benchmarks in profit, revenue, and cash assets. The group made significant investments totaling $3.8 billion in new aircraft, infrastructure, and technology to support its growth plans. The company’s workforce also expanded by 9 percent, reaching a record 121,223 employees.
The group declared a dividend of $1.6 billion to its owner, the Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD). Excluding other businesses within the group, Emirates airline reported a record pre-tax profit of $5.8 billion, a 20 percent increase from the previous year. Additionally, the airline’s revenue increased by 6 percent, reaching $34.9 billion.
Emirates’ ground services division, Dnata, also achieved a record pre-tax profit of $430 million, a 2 percent increase from last year. The state-owned Emirates Group operates the world’s largest long-haul carrier and, as of March, had 314 aircraft pending delivery. These include 61 A350s and 205 Boeing 777x models. The group is retrofitting 219 aircraft at a cost of $5 billion to compensate for delayed aircraft orders. Sheikh Ahmed had previously mentioned plans to retrofit 90 percent of the fleet to address these delays.