Emirates Chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said there’s still some way to go before operations could be restored to pre-pandemic levels and return to profitability.
“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, he stated.
"As we began our 2021-22 financial year, Covid-19 vaccination programs were being rolled out at an unprecedented scale around the world. Across the Group, we saw operations and demand pick up as countries started to ease travel restrictions. This momentum accelerated over the summer and continues to grow steadily into the winter season and beyond,” Sheikh Ahmed added.
Group revenue equaled 24.7 billion dirhams ($6.7 billion) for the first six months of 2021-22, up 81 percent from 13.7 billion dirhams ($3.7 billion) during the same period last year.
The airline reported a net loss of 5.7 billion dirhams ($1.6 billion) during H1 2021-2022, showing huge progress compared to last year in which losses totaled 14.1 billion dirhams ($3.8 billion).
The Group also reported an EBITDA of 5.6 billion dirhams ($1.5 billion), a dramatic turnaround from a negative 43 million dirhams ($12 million) EBITDA during the same period last year, illustrating its strong return to operating profitability.
"Our ability to pivot and pull through the toughest period in our history to date can be attributed to Emirates' and dnata's strong brands. We intend to continue investing in these core areas to take our business into the future, together with the leaner processes and new technology capabilities that we've implemented in the past months," Sheikh Ahmed added.
The Emirates Group tapped on its cash reserves, and access funding through its owner and the broader financial community to support its business needs. In the first half of 2021-22, its owner further injected 2.5 billion dirhams ($681 million) into Emirates by way of an equity investment.
According to the airline, two new Airbus A380s were delivered during the first six months of its 2021-22 fiscal year.
