Dubai’s Emirates sees improved performance in H1

Dubai airline Emirates has seen much better performance in the first half of its current financial year than the same period in 2016, president Tim Clark has said.

The carrier will report its results for the first six months of the fiscal year in November after posting a 75 per cent slump in first half net profit and 82 per cent drop in annual net profit for fiscal 2016 due to currency issues and competition.

Read: Emirates airline posts 82% drop in annual profit

“The six months were a lot better than this time last year,” Clark said at an industry conference, according to Gulf News.

This year the carrier has had to deal with falling demand on US routes due to the new travel restrictions imposed on citizens from some Middle Eastern countries and a ban on large electronics that was later removed. This led to Emirates dropping some flights to the country in April.

Clark said demand had fallen by 15 to 18 per cent on US flights but indicated conditions had improved in the summer.

“Within a few months of getting it sorted and then eventually the ban being lifted, we were able to get back to where we were, and it’s been a very robust summer for us in the United States,” he said.

The Emirates president indicated the previous frequency of flights to Seattle, Boston and Los Angeles could be resorted in summer next year.

Read: Emirates could restore US capacity within six to nine months

He said the carrier could have lost 50 per cent of its loads to the US without collaboration from aviation stakeholders in Dubai.