The Emirates Group has reported a staggering profit of US$3bn (R57,63bn) for the financial year 2022/2023.
Group revenue increased by 81% over the prior year, to US$32,6bn (R625,86bn), attributed to strong customer demand after the removal of global travel restrictions.
The Group says it has repaid debt of US$817m (R1,57bn) “partly ahead of maturity”. This was debt raised during the COVID-19 crisis.
Record year
Emirates Airline reported a record year, its most profitable ever, with a profit of US$2,9bn (R55,7bn). This was in stark contrast to its last financial year, when the carrier suffered a loss of US$1,1bn (R21,13bn).
The airline’s revenue was up 81% to US$29,3bn (R562,75 bn), as it restored its global network and reinstated more passenger flights.
Notably, operating costs increased by 57% from the last financial year. Cost of ownership (depreciation and amortisation) and fuel cost were the two biggest cost components for the airline in 2022-23, followed by employee cost. Fuel accounted for 36% of operating costs compared with 23% in the year 2021/2022. The airline’s fuel bill increased by 143% to US$9,2bn (R176,7bn) over the previous year, due to an increase in uplift of 49%, in line with capacity expansion, and a higher average fuel price, up by 48%.
Airline capacity increased by 32% from the prior year. In addition to launching services to Tel Aviv, the airline relaunched flights to six destinations and increased operations to 62 cities across its network. As at the end of March 2023, the carrier’s network comprised 150 destinations across six continents (including nine cities served by its freighter fleet only).
Emirates also deployed its flagship Airbus A380 ‘Super-Jumbo’ fleet to more cities, bringing its A380 network to 43 destinations.
Dnata, the Group’s ground and cargo handling, onboard catering and retail services arm, reported a profit of US$90m (R1,73bn), solid growth from its US$30m (R576m) profit last year. Dnata revenue increased by 74% to US$4,1bn (R78,75bn), reflecting the ongoing recovery from the pandemic across all business divisions in the UAE and worldwide. Dnata expanded its global footprint with the opening of operations in Zanzibar and new cargo operations in Germany and Canada. Dnata acquired full ownership of ground-handling operations in Brazil in the financial year 2022/2023.
