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The Emirates Group reported its 19th consecutive year of profit with a new record performance backed by continued double-digit growth.
Group net profits increased 23.5 per cent to a new high of UAE Dirhams 3.5 billion (US $942 million) for the financial year ended 31st March 2007, while Group revenue increased by an impressive 28.4 per cent to Dhs 31.1 billion ($8.5 billion), compared to Dhs 24.2 billion ($6.6 billion) last year. The Group also maintained a robust cash balance of Dhs 12.9 billion ($3.5 billion) at the end of March, an improvement of 17.8 per cent against a year earlier.
Emirates will pay a dividend of Dhs 400 million ($109 million) to its owner, the Government of Dubai. In total, the ownership will have received Dhs 1.8 billion ($505 million) from Emirates since the financial year 2000-01. In 2006-07, the Emirates Group estimates a direct contribution of Dhs 14.5 billion ($4 billion), and another Dhs 21.7 billion ($5.9 billion) in indirect contribution to the Dubai economy.
The Group’s latest record performance, backed by double-digit profit and revenue growth, reflects its success in growing demand for its services, and its ability to attract more premium customers through its multi-million dollar investments in product innovations and service enhancements. This is illustrated by the three million more passengers who flew Emirates in the latest financial year, for a new record total of 17.5 million.
Fuel costs remained the top expenditure accounting for 29.1 per cent of total operating costs, up from 27.2 per cent the previous year and 21.4 per cent the year before. Like other airlines, Emirates was forced to retain its fuel surcharges, which only covered about 50 per cent of incremental costs.
The airline’s jet fuel risk management programme continued to help mitigate fuel costs, saving the company Dhs 724 million ($197 million) in 2006-07.
Emirates Airline’s revenues totalled Dhs 29.8 billion ($8.1 billion) for the year, Dhs 6.8 billion ($1.8 billion) or 29.5 per cent higher than income of Dhs 23.1 billion ($6.3 billion) in 2005-06. Airline profits of Dhs 3.1 billion ($844 million) also surpassed the previous year’s record profits of Dhs 2.5 billion ($674 million).
During 2006-07, Emirates launched passenger services to four new cities – Bangalore, Beijing, Nagoya, and Tunis - bringing the network total to 89 destinations. In addition, it increased the frequency of passenger services to existing destinations, notably a second daily service to Zurich and Dusseldorf, along with a third daily flight to New York via Hamburg.
Passenger seat factor increased to 76.2 per cent from 75.9 per cent the previous year. Traffic increased by 21.6 per cent to 12,643 million tonne-kilometres, and keeping pace with a capacity increase of 22.9 per cent to 19,414 million tonne-kilometres. Breakeven load factor remained relatively low and improved marginally to 59.9 per cent from 60.2 per cent last year, while yield improved for the fifth consecutive year, to 216 fils (59 US cents) per RTKM (Revenue Tonne Kilometre), up from 203 fils (55 US cents) in 2005-06.
Emirates SkyCargo recorded strong growth across its network to carry 1.2 million tonnes of cargo, surpassing its record of one million tonnes of cargo carried last year by 13.5 per cent. The division’s revenue of Dhs 5.4 billion ($1.5 billion) was Dhs 874 million ($238 million) or 19 per cent higher than the year before, and contributed 20 per cent to the airline’s transport revenue, one of the highest contributions of any airline in the world with a similar fleet make-up.
The Destination and Leisure Management division of Emirates Airline saw another strong year of growth, with sales crossing the Dhs 1 billion ($314 million) mark. This represents an improvement of 22 per cent over the previous year, with yield up eight per cent despite the increasing competitive market conditions. During the year, Emirates Holidays and Arabian Adventures served a record number of 369,000 customers.
Dnata recorded a solid performance with revenue growth of 16.5 per cent to Dhs 2.1 billion ($565 million) compared with Dhs 1.8 billion ($485 million). Dnata’s profits of Dhs 360 million ($98 million) represent an increase of 11 per cent compared to last year’s Dhs 324 million ($88 million) – this despite the mammoth challenge to keep operations at the Dubai airport and cargo terminals running smoothly around one of the biggest airport construction and expansion projects currently in progress.
In its 48th year of operation, Dnata remains at the heart of the rapid traffic growth at Dubai International Airport, handling a record 30 million passengers (up 17.2 per cent), 110,000 aircraft (up eight per cent) and 535,132 tonnes of cargo (up six per cent) during the 2006-07 fiscal year.
As of 31st March 2007, the Group employed 30,344 people, up 13 per cent from a year before. In the past 12 months, Emirates has been receiving 60 new cabin crew recruits each week on average, and now has over 8,000 cabin crew representing more than 100 nationalities. Its 1,667 captains and first officers represent over 75 nationalities.
The Group’s Facilities Management Department currently has Dhs 580 million ($158 million) worth of new projects in Dubai under various stages of design and construction including: 700 apartments for cabin crew accommodation in Media City, a new call centre in Dubai Outsource Zone, new offices for D&LM on Sheikh Zayed Road and a new operations centre at Dubai Investment Park, and storage warehousing in Ghusais. |
