São Paulo – Emirates Group, which controls Emirates Airline, Emirates SkyCargo and ground services company dnata, among other companies, announced last Thursday (9th) that its profit was up 34% to US$ 845 million in fiscal year 2012-2013. In a press release, the company said it has been its 25th straight year of profit. The group’s revenues were up 17% from fiscal year 2011-2012 to US$ 21.1 billion. The Emirates Group’s fiscal year began on April 1, 2012 and ended on March 31 this year. Emirates Airline posted a profit of US$ 622 million.
In a press release, Emirates stated that it has seen the most growth ever during fiscal year 2012-2013, and that even though oil prices have not fluctuated greatly throughout the period, it accounted for most of the company’s spending. Fuel expenses were up 14.7% to US$ 7.6 billion. Total operating costs were up 16%.
“Managing volatile exchange rates, coupled with a persistently high fuel bill accounting for 40 per cent of our total expenditures, has required continued strong resolve,” said the group’s chairman Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum in a press release.
In the last fiscal year, Emirates Airline received 34 new aircraft. Of those, 20 are Boeing 777-300ER units, 10 are Airbus A380, and four are Boeing 777LRF cargo units. Passenger transport capacity was up 44% and aircraft occupancy rates remained higher than 80%. The company carried 39.4 million passengers, up 16% from fiscal year 2011-2012.
Emirates began flying to 10 new destinations: Ho Chi Min, Vietnam; Barcelona, Spain; Lisbon, Portugal; Erbil, Iraq; Washington D.C., United States; Adelaide, Australia; Lion, France; Phuket, Thailand; Warsaw, Poland; and Algiers, Algeria. At least four new destinations will be added this year: Haneda, Japan; Clark, Philippines; and flights from Stockholm and Milan to New York. One new daily flight has been added to routes such as Dubai-Paris and Dubai-New York, flown by A380 units.
Revenues were up across all continents. East Asia and Australasia revenues amounted to US$ 5.7 billion, up 15% from fiscal year 2011-2012. Operations in Europe were up 18% to USS 5.5 billion. In the Americas, revenues were up 24% to US$ 2.3 billion. In West Asia and the Indian Ocean, revenues were up 13% to US$ 2.2 billion. In the Middle East, revenues were up 13% to US$ 1.9 billion. In Africa, revenues were up 10% to US$ 1.8 billion.
Regarding the other companies in the group, Emirates SkyCargo posted US$ 2.8 billion in revenues and saw a 16% increase in cargo throughput, to 2.1 million tonnes. Tourism and leisure revenues were up US$ 125 million, up 15% from fiscal year 2011-2012 and dnata, which provides aircraft catering, among other services, posted US$ 1.78 billion in revenues, up 15.3% from 2011-2012.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
