UAE. The Emirates Group has declared a +74% increase in net profits to AED 1.05 billion (US$285.7 million) for the financial year 2002/3, ended 31 March 2003.
Duty free revenue onboard the dynamic Middle East carrier rose by +20.3%. Emirates Airline’s operations alone achieved a stunning 94% increase in profits, from AED 468.2 million (US$127.6m) to AED 906.7 million (US$247.1m).
The average passenger seat factor rose to 76.6%, breaking all records. Total Group revenue increased by +31% to AED 10.2 billion (US$2.8 billion) in the year.
Emirates inflight sales reached US$8 million in 2002, according to Generation DataBank.
Emirates’ chairman, His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum paid tribute to Dubai’s government, which he said confidently plans and builds for the future: “At the airport, too, the government is making a crucial multi-million dollar investment in a new, revolutionary expansion of the already futuristic complex, which will increase the capacity to 60 million passengers a year by 2012.”
The last year was a difficult one for the aviation industry which suffered global losses of US$13 billion. Emirates, like other international airlines, had to face global economic and political problems, but said its fast reaction to such challenges across the network helped minimise their effects on operations.
Sheikh Ahmed commented: “We are, indeed, fortunate to be in a part of the world where the economy is booming, for when we compare our results with those of the world aviation industry in general, they seem almost surreal.”
Sheikh Ahmed underlined the fact that Emirates does not receive any subsidies whatsoever from the Dubai government nor any protection from competition.
Emirates airline carried 8.5 million passengers last year, an increase of 26% over the previous total of 6.8 million. It is 20th in size among international airlines and one of the five most profitable.
Capacity rose +28.5% in available tonne kilometres, while the passenger seat factor – despite the increased capacity – rose 2.3 percentage points, up from 74.3% the previous year. The overall load factor was 70%, up from 68.3% the previous year.
During the 2002/03 financial year, services were launched to Casablanca, Khartoum, Mauritius, Perth, Osaka and Cochin, bringing the number of destinations to 64 in 45 countries. Frequencies were increased at a number of destinations, including London, Johannesburg and Tehran.
Emirates Group managing director Maurice Flanagan commented: “In a desperately wobbly year for the world’s airlines, we remained on course for achieving yet another target as we kept moving the goalposts in our quest for Emirates to become a global brand.”
