Emirates airline profit rises; offsets fuel costs
Posted: Monday, November 06, 2006
Dubai
Emirates said first-half profit rose by 29 per cent after the Dubai government-owned company offset higher fuel costs by carrying more passengers and cargo.
Net income in the six months to September 30 climbed to $323 million, compared with $251 million in the year-earlier period, Emirates said in a statement. Operating revenue rose 30 per cent to $3.67 billion, it said.
'Emirates has been in a strong position to tap into the robust demand for air travel globally by expanding its route network with new high-capacity aircraft,' Emirates chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum was quoted as saying in the statement.
Emirates is banking on long-range, high-capacity aircraft to tap passenger and cargo traffic from as far away as east Asia and North America through its hub in Dubai to compete with global carriers including Qantas Airways and Singapore Airlines.
The International Air Transport Association has said Middle East passenger traffic in the first nine months of the year rose 15.4 per cent, the fastest of the world's regions, according to an industry association which represents 260 airlines.
The number of passengers Emirates carried in the first six months rose by 20 per cent to 8.39 million, compared with 6.98 million in the year-earlier period, it said.
Passenger revenue rose 31 per cent and load factor, the proportion of seats filled, to 76.4 per cent, it said, without giving comparisons.
Fuel costs climbed above $1 billion, equivalent to 30.7 per cent of total operating costs, it said, without giving a comparison. Revenue from cargo operations rose by 29 per cent to Dh2.7 billion ($735.1 million), Emirates said.
The world's airlines will cut their combined losses this year by half to $1.7 billion, offsetting a 26 per cent increase in fuel costs by raising passenger load factors, and on higher passenger and cargo demand, according to IATA. It will be their sixth successive year of losses, according to IATA.
