Emirates Group

'We have continued to grow, and the airline is set to take delivery of a new aircraft almost every month this year,' chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum told AME Info.

Indeed, the figures show that most of the increase in profits came from a 94% rise in profits at Emirates Airline to $247 million. In the course of the 2002/3 financial year Emirates carried 8.5 million passengers, a 26% increase on the previous year. The growth in profits at travel subsidiary Dnata was a more modest 5% to $38.6 million.

'We have also contained cost and achieved higher productivity thanks to the efforts of our staff,' adds His Highness. And indeed this is reflected in an average passenger seat load factor of 76.6% breaking all previous records, and all the more remarkable given the number of destinations Emirates now serves.

'Thirdly our customers are also very loyal to the airline and like to fly on Emirates,' he says, later adding, 'Cargo represented 19.6% of the airline's revenue and is another factor explaining our profits. Also we only fly profitable routes'.

This remarkable performance left Emirates Group with a healthy cash balance of $1.3 billion at the end of March, up from $900 million a year ago. Sheikh Ahmed noted that the group clearly had 'no need' to raise funds through a bond issue at the moment.

Maybe one additional reason for Emirates Airlines performance is that after September 11th the group squeezed its cost base hard, and that the market recovered rather more quickly than expected. There is certainly very little slack in the system now.

In fact, managing director Maurice Flanaghan admits that containing costs will become more difficult as Emirates is moving from being a small to medium sized carrier.

The accent is definitely on expansion. His Highness says he want a fleet of 100-120 aircraft by 2010, up from 46 today, and this year will see the start of new services to Moscow, Shanghai, Brisbane and Lagos. There will also be improvements such as flat beds in business class on A340 flights to Australia later this year.

'When we compare our results with those of the world aviation industry in general they seem almost surreal,' commented Sheikh Ahmed. 'We are indeed fortunate to be in a part of the world where the economy is booming'.