Middle Eastern air transport company Emirates Group has posted a group net profit of Dhs5.9 billion ($1.6 billion) for the full year 2010-11, an increase of 43%.
Emirates Airline contributed a profit of Dhs5.4 billion while ground-handling specialist Dnata turned in a profit of Dhs560 million.
Group revenue rose by more than 26% to Dhs57.4 billion and its cash balance increased to Dhs16 billion.
Operating costs rose nearly 23% to Dhs48.9 billion. Emirates Group's fuel expenditure accounted for 34% of the total, rising by 41% to Dhs16.8 billion.
"With political instability across parts of the world coming to the fore in the second half of the year, Emirates was able to swiftly adjust flight schedules, redeploying aircraft to balance the network and optimise revenue," says the company.
"The airline's notable ability to drive revenue, in the midst of an unstable business environment enabled it to partially shield itself against a dramatic increase in fuel prices in the second half of the year."
Passenger numbers were up by 14.5% to 31.4 million while load factor reached 80%, even though the airline increased seat capacity by 13%. Yield was up by 8.5%.
Delivery of seven Airbus A380s and a Boeing 777-300ER increased the fleet size to 148 aircraft over the year.
Emirates' freight division, SkyCargo, improved revenues by nearly 27% to Dhs8.8 billion.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
