Customer service focus helps Emirates to a record half-year profit

The results, based on unaudited financial figures, compare with net profits of Dhs 404.2m (US$ 110m) last year. Higher passenger and cargo yields more than offset a small short-term fall in seat factors during the SARS outbreak and Iraq conflict.

Emirates' Chairman, HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, said: "These results confirm that our policy of tailoring services tightly to meet customers' needs is proving highly successful, and helping us to exceed even our own growth expectations."

Emirates' Dhs 5.8 billion operating revenue for the half-year recorded strong growth of 33% compared to Dhs 4.3bn during the same period last year.

Seat factor fell by just 8.2% points to 69.8%, with the impact of SARS and military action in Iraq, but recovered in the second quarter to 77.5%. Passengers carried rose 17.7% to 4.8 million for the half-year, compared to 4.1 million for the 2002/3 half-year.

Emirates is investing heavily in improvements to its customer service. It has $26 billion worth of new aircraft on order and is constantly expanding its route network. It already flies to 70 cities in 50 countries with a fleet of 51 passenger aircraft, on average three years old, and services to Brisbane, Lagos and Accra start soon. Flights to North America begin next year.

Recent customer service improvements include the opening of a dedicated new first and business class check-in terminal at Dubai International Airport, self check-ins for frequent flyers, and online internet booking facilities.

Work is also under way on building a dedicated new Dubai passenger terminal and launching a series of in-flight innovations to attract customers to First and Business class.

Emirates' cargo revenue grew by a remarkable 49%. Cargo tonnages rose 29% to 315,000 tonnes, compared with 245,000 for the same period last year.

Emirates now flies three all-cargo Boeing 747 freighters to 17 destinations around the world, including New York, introduced recently, to give its freight customers a wider range of logistics services and customised products.

Liquidity on 30th September 2003 was robust at Dhs 3.95 billion (US$ 1.08 billion) compared to Dhs 3.88 billion, (US$ 1.04 billion) as of 30th September 2002.