Emirates half-year results indicating aviation is slowly recovering from COVID

Emirates has announced its half-year results for its 2021-22 financial year – and its showing positive signs the aviation sector is slowly recovering

The Emirates group revenue was US$ 6.7 billion for the first six months of 2021-22, up 81% from US$ 3.7 billion during the same period last year. This strong revenue recovery was underpinned by the easing of travel restrictions worldwide and the corresponding increase in demand for air transport as countries progressed their COVID-19 vaccination programmes. 

The Group reported a 2021-22 half-year net loss of US$ 1.6 billion – substantially improved from its US$ 3.8 billion loss for the same period last year.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates says “as we began our 2021-22 financial year, COVID-19 vaccination programmes were being rolled out at unprecedented scale around the world.

“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.”

Sheikh Ahmed added: “We would like to thank our customers for their continued support, as well as all our aviation and travel industry stakeholders and partners for their efforts that have made it possible for international air travel to resume safely and smoothly.”

The Emirates Group has been able to tap on its own strong cash reserves, and access funding through its Owner and the broader financial community to support its business needs through the unprecedented challenges wrought on the aviation and travel industry by COVID-19.

In the first half of 2021-22, the UAE, who ones the airline, further injected US$ 681 million into Emirates by way of an equity investment and they continue to support the airline on its recovery path

The Emirates Group’s employee base, compared to 31 March 2021, dropped marginally by 2% to an overall count of 73,571 at 30 September 2021. In line with the expected ramp up in capacity and business activities in the coming months, Emirates and dnata have embarked on targeted recruitment drives to support its requirements, prioritising the rehiring of employees previously on furlough or made redundant.

Continued recovery and the changes Emirates has made

During the first six months of 2021-22, Emirates took delivery of 2 new A380s and retired 2 older aircraft from its fleet as part of its long-standing strategy to improve overall efficiency, minimise its emissions footprint, and provide high quality customer experiences.

With a clear focus on restoring its passenger network and connections through its Dubai hub, Emirates responded with agility whenever travel restrictions lifted to restart services or layer on additional flights. In July, it launched services to Miami, a new destination, and during the first half of 2021-22, Emirates also activated codeshare and interline partnerships with Airlink, Aeromar, Azul, Cemair and South African Airways to expand connectivity options for customers.

By 30 September, Emirates was operating passenger and cargo services to 139 airports around the world, utilising its entire Boeing 777 fleet and 37 of its superjumbo A380s.