Emirates Airline profit up 43% to Dh3.3 billion in 2013

Dubai’s flagship carrier warned runway maintenance work at its home airport would cost it Dh1 billion in lost revenue.

Emirates Airline is thhe world’s biggest customer of the Airbus A380 superjumbo. Karim Sahib / AFP

Dubai’s flagship carrier Emirates Airline reported a 43 per cent increase in profit as it added more passengers and fuel prices decreased.

Emirates net profit in 2013 was at Dh3.3 billion compared with Dh2.3bn a year earlier.

Emirates earnings have escalated in recent years, as the carrier adds new routes and adds new passengers. Emirates carried 44.5 million passenger during the year, up 13 per cent from last year.

“The airline has managed to supress costs with newer fuel efficient airplanes that have contributed to keeping rising fuel bills to just 10 per cent of overall costs,” Saj Ahmad, chief analyst at StrategicAero Research.

Emirates made headlines at Dubai’s Airshow in November when it ordered $99bn worth of aircraft – including the 777X from Boeing and the A380 superjumbo from its European rival Airbus. The carrier, which started its operations in 1985, currently has 217 aircraft in its fleet.

Emirates revenues grew 13 per cent to Dh82.6bn during the period. The carrier’s bottomline was previously hit by high jet fuel prices, but a decline in prices has led to better profitability.

The world’s biggest customer of the Airbus A380 superjumbo said profit for the wider Emirates Group, which includes the airline services arm Dnata, rose 32 per cent to Dh4.1bn.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman of Emirates, told a news conference that upgrade work at Dubai International Airport would mean the airline would lose Dh1bn of revenue in 2014.

This reiterates the estimate the airline’s president Tim Clark gave last month. Dubai plans around 80 days of work to upgrade and refurbish the airport’s two runways.

* with agencies

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