Emirates, the government-owned airline of the United Arab Emirates, released its annual financial statistics for FY2021-22, showing a loss of $1 billion (AED 3.8 billion).
Emirates released an evaluation of its results for the fiscal year 2021-2022, which ended on March 31, 2022, on May 13, 2022. Despite a loss of $1 billion (AED 3.8 billion), the airline managed to improve its financial performance from the previous financial year, when it lost $6 billion (AED 22.1 billion).
As passenger demand for international air travel recovers, the airline reported revenue of more than $18 billion (AED 66.2 billion) in FY21-2022, an increase of 86 percent above revenue levels in FY2020-21.
Despite operational pandemic-related hurdles, Emirates said its commercial recovery picked up speed in the second half of the year when limitations were relaxed.
“Robust customer demand drove a huge improvement in our financial performance compared to our unprecedented losses of last year and we built up our strong cash balance,” Emirates chief executive officer Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said, outlining that the company ended the year with a cash balance of around $7 billion (AED 25.8 billion), up 30% from the previous financial year.
The Dubai-based airline served 19.6 million passengers in 2021-22, nearly doubling the number of passengers it carried the previous fiscal year.
Emirates claimed it expanded its network by 20 flights, bringing the total number of destinations to 140, in order to respond quickly to the ever-changing business climate.
Meanwhile, the airline invested $2.2 billion (AED 7.9 billion) in its aircraft fleet to position itself for recovery and future expansion.
Emirates’ fleet was recently increased with the delivery of its five final A380 wide-body planes, all of which were outfitted with the latest cabin furnishings, including Premium Economy seats.
Meanwhile, it retired two older aircraft: one Boeing 777-300ER and one cargo plane. It now has 262 planes in its fleet, with an average age of 8.2 years.
“In 2021-22, Emirates continued to progress its environmental strategy focussed on reducing carbon emissions, consuming resources responsibly, and conserving wildlife and habitats.
During the year, the Group supported community, humanitarian and philanthropic initiatives in its various markets, as well as innovation incubators, and other programs that nurture future solutions for industry growth,” the carrier wrote.
Emirates aims to return to profitability in FY2022-23, notwithstanding the recent loss.
