Dubai’s Emirates Group reports $1.6bn half-year net loss

Dubai’s Emirates Group has reported a 2021-22 half-year net loss of Dhs5.7bn ($1.6bn), marking an improvement from Dhs14.1bn ($3.8bn) loss for the same period last year.

Read: Dubai’s Emirates Group reports first half-year loss in over 30 years

Group revenue equalled Dhs24.7bn ($6.7bn) for the first six months of 2021-22, up 81 per cent from Dhs13.7bn ($3.7bn) during the same period last year, underpinned by the easing of travel restrictions and increase in demand for air transport as countries progressed their Covid-19 vaccination programmes.

The group also reported Dhs5.6bn ($1.5bn) in EBITDA, an improvement from a negative Dhs43m ($12m) EBITDA during the same period last year. Its cash position stood at Dhs18.8bn ($5.1bn) on September 30, 2021, compared to Dhs19.8bn ($5.4bn) as on March 31, 2021.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman and chief executive, Emirates Airline and Group said: “As we began our 2021-22 financial year, Covid-19 vaccination programmes were being rolled out at unprecedented scale around the world. Across the Group, we saw operations and demand pick up as countries started to ease travel restrictions. This momentum accelerated over the summer and continues to grow steadily into the winter season and beyond.

“Our cargo transport and handling businesses continued to perform strongly, providing the bedrock upon which we were able to quickly reinstate passenger services. While there’s still some way to go before we restore our operations to pre-pandemic levels and return to profitability, we are well on the recovery path with healthy revenue and a solid cash balance at the end of our first half of 2021-22.”

The Emirates Group tapped on its cash reserves, and access funding through its owner and the broader financial community to support its business needs. In the first half of 2021-22, its owner further injected Dhs2.5bn ($681m) into Emirates by way of an equity investment.

The Emirates Group’s employee base, compared to March 31, 2021, dropped marginally by 2 per cent to an overall count of 73,571 at September 30, 2021. However, Emirates and dnata have embarked on recruitment drives, prioritising the rehiring of employees previously on furlough or made redundant.

Read: Dubai’s Emirates to recruit 6,000 operational staff over next six months

Emirates airline
During the first six months of 2021-22, Emirates took delivery of two new A380s and retired two older aircraft from its fleet as part of its strategy to improve overall efficiency and minimise its emissions footprint, a statement said.

In July, it launched services to Miami and during the first half of 2021-22, activated codeshare and interline partnerships with Airlink, Aeromar, Azul, Cemair and South African Airways to expand connectivity options for customers.

Read: Dubai’s Emirates to launch new service to Miami

Read: Dubai’s Emirates, South African Airways reaffirm partnership to grow presence

By September 30, the airline was operating passenger and cargo services to 139 airports, utilising its entire Boeing 777 fleet and 37 A380s.

Overall capacity during the first six months of the year increased by 66 per cent to 16.3 billion available tonne kilometres (ATKM). Emirates carried 6.1 million passengers between April 1 and September 30, 2021, up 319 per cent from the same period last year.

In the first half of 2021-22, Emirates Skycargo boosted its pharma cool chain handling infrastructure with the addition of 94 cool room pallet positions to its existing EU GDP compliant infrastructure at Dubai airport. Emirates Skycargo carried over 150 million Covid-19 vaccine doses through its Dubai hub by July 2021.

In the first half of the 2021-22 financial year, Emirates loss was Dhs5.8bn ($1.6bn), compared to last year’s loss of Dhs12.6bn ($3.4bn). Emirates revenue, including other operating income, of Dhs21.7bn ($5.9bn) was up 86 per cent compared with the Dhs11.7bn ($3.2bn) recorded during the same period last year.

Emirates operating costs increased by 22 per cent against an overall capacity growth of 66 per cent. Fuel costs more than doubled compared to the same period last year due to higher fuel uplift and an increase in average oil prices.

Driven by the significant increase in operations during the six months, Emirates’ EBITDA recovered to Dhs5bn ($1.4bn) compared to Dhs290m ($79m) for the same period last year.

dnata
dnata’s revenue, including other operating income, was Dhs3.7bn ($1bn), a 55 per cent increase compared to Dhs2.4bn ($644m) last year. Overall profit for dnata stood at Dhs85m ($23m), compared to last year’s loss of Dhs1.5bn ($396m).

dnata’s airport operations remains the largest contributor to revenue with Dhs2.5bn ($688m), a 52 per cent increase as compared to the same period last year. Across its operations, the number of aircraft handled by dnata increased by 116 per cent to 222,668, and it handled 1.4 million tonnes of cargo.

dnata’s flight catering and retail operation, contributed Dhs766m ($209m) to its revenue. The number of meals uplifted doubled to 16.6 million meals for the first half of the financial year after last year’s 8.3 million.

dnata’s travel division contributed Dhs147m ($40m) to revenue after Dhs95m ($26m) for the same period last year.