Emirates marks another record half-year

The results reflect a strong revenue performance largely driven by higher passenger demand, combined with higher yields. Net margin was 13.7% compared to 8.7% for the corresponding period last year.

H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Emirates' Chairman and Chief Executive said: "Emirates has delivered another excellent performance which reflects healthy demand for our products and services. We have expanded our route network with new large capacity, fuel-efficient aircraft, and have continued to invest in a high quality product for our customers. These investments, matched with robust global demand for air travel, are paying off.

"Looking at the next six months, fuel costs remain a serious challenge for us with the price of crude oil now heading towards $100 per barrel. There is also continued uncertainty surrounding the impact of recent credit issues in the financial markets on passenger demand, particularly in the premium cabins. However, I remain confident that Emirates is well positioned to address these challenges and continue our profitable growth."

Emirates' operating revenue at Dhs16.96bn ($4.62bn), was up 25.8% compared to Dhs13.48bn ($3.67bn) during the corresponding period last year.

Passenger revenue recorded a growth of 30.5% at Dhs13.1bn ($3.56bn), with passengers carried increasing by 1.9m or 23% to 10.3m, compared to 8.4m for the first half-year of 2006-07. Seat factor improved to 79.7% for the period, on 17 per cent higher seat capacity in terms of available seat kilometers.

Emirates SkyCargo performed well against a subdued global airfreight market, posting a revenue increase of 13% to Dhs3.0bn ($822m), with cargo tonnage up by 10% to 637,000 tonnes, compared with 577,000 tonnes for the same period last year. Cargo contributed about 19% of the airline's total transport revenue.

Operating costs were higher by 19.3% whilst Airline unit cost per available tonne kilometre increased by 4.8% to 134 fils. Fuel costs for the first six months remained the top expenditure item accounting for 27.8% of total operating costs.

Emirates' cash position, including held to maturity investments and capital guaranteed notes, on 30th September 2007 was healthy at Dhs11.7bn ($3.2bn), compared to Dhs11.5bn ($3.1bn) six months earlier. This was after paying dividends pertaining to the past financial year of Dhs400m ($109m) to the shareholder, and funding capital outflows of around Dhs2.3bn ($621m) that included aircraft pre-delivery payments and other capital items.

Since April 2007, Emirates has launched passenger services to five new destinations - Venice, Newcastle, Sao Paulo, Toronto and Ahmedabad, bringing its global network to 97 cities on six continents, including 10 cargo-only destinations. The airline will soon commence operations to Houston from 3rd December. In addition to new destinations, Emirates has also increased the frequency of passenger services and added capacity with larger aircraft to many of its existing destinations during the half year.

Emirates' current fleet size is 111, comprising 29 Airbus A330-200s, 30 Boeing 777-300ERs, two Boeing 777-200LRs, 12 Boeing 777-300s, nine Boeing 777-200s, 10 Airbus 340-500s, eight Airbus A340-300s, and 11 freighters - eight Boeing 747Fs and three Airbus A310Fs. -ends