tuesday November 7, 2006
Emirates reported a $323 million net profit for the first half of its fiscal year, widened from $251 million in the year-ago period, on a 30% jump in revenues to $3.67 billion, marking the highest first-half profit in its history.
"The results reflect a strong revenue performance driven by robust passenger and cargo demand, and better yields, which softened the impact of high fuel prices on operating costs," the airline said in a statement.
For the six months ended Sept. 30, passenger revenues rose 31% as passengers carried increased 20% to 8.4 million. Emirates SkyCargo posted a revenue increase of 29% as freight grew 20% to 577,455 tons. The cargo unit's contribution to overall revenues remained steady at 21%.
Fuel costs for the half-year surpassed $1 billion and remained the carrier's biggest expenditure, accounting for 30.7% of total operating costs. "Measures taken by Emirates to remain on target include stringent cost-containment and efficiency drives, but like other airlines, Emirates has been forced to maintain fuel surcharges on tickets, which do not fully cover the escalating costs," it said.
The airline has launched services to 10 new cities since January: Abidjan, Addis Ababa, Bangalore, Beijing, Hamburg, Kolkata, Lilongwe (cargo-only), Nagoya, Thiruvananthapuram and Tunis. Its total network now comprises 87 cities, including four cargo-only destinations.
With 10 747-8Fs recently ordered
(ATWOnline, Oct. 10), the fast-growing carrier now has more than 100 widebody jets with list-price values exceeding a collective $30 billion pending delivery. The current fleet consists of 100 aircraft including 29 A330-200s and 22 777-300ERs.
by Aaron Karp