The CEO of Emirates, the largest airline in the Middle East, announced that Emirates Airlines hopes to return to profitability by 2023 and start paying back aid it received from the government during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“For me, (the health crisis) is over,” Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum told reporters on the sidelines of the Arab Tourism Fair in Dubai.
He added, “Countries continue to impose some restrictions, but I hope that most of them will be lifted by the end of the year,” noting that ‘Emirates Airlines’ was currently operating at 75-80% of its capacity compared to pre-outbreak levels of the epidemic.
The long-haul carrier has been hit hard by global travel restrictions. However, Dubai was one of the first destinations to reopen its doors to tourists in the summer of 2020, thanks to a massive vaccination campaign.
The Chairman and CEO of Emirates Airlines hopes that the company will, in the current fiscal year, start repaying the $4.1 billion it previously received.
The Dubai government supported the company with billions of dollars over the course of the pandemic, which at one point paralyzed international travel.
Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said that the government, which is the sole shareholder in the airline, will pay through dividend payments starting from the current fiscal year, which runs until March 31, 2023.
Months ago, things became “positive”, according to Sheikh Ahmed, despite the rise in fuel prices.
In addition, Sheikh Ahmed expected Emirates Airlines to achieve excellent results for the next fiscal year 2022-2023.
The revenues of the “Emirates Airlines” group for the first half of the current fiscal year amounted to 24.7 billion dirhams, an increase of 81 percent over the same period of the previous year. It reduced its losses to 5.7 billion dirhams, from 14.1 billion dirhams for the first six months of the fiscal year 2020-2021.
In response to a question about whether one of the group’s companies has been identified with the aim of offering it to the public, the president of “Emirates Airlines” replied that “the decision is up to the Dubai government regarding the listing of any of the group’s subsidiaries on the stock exchange.”
Sheikh Ahmed had stated that the Emirates Group and its subsidiaries may contribute to the process of IPOs that the Dubai Financial Market will witness, following Dubai government’s announcement of its intention to offer 10 major government companies on the emirate’s stock exchange.
In addition, “Emirates Airlines” was once again crowned “Best Airline in the World” for the ninth time in a row at the Business Traveler Middle East Awards yesterday.
At the celebration – which was attended by senior executives from the travel industry – Emirates Airlines also won awards in three other categories, “Best Premium Economy Class”, “Best Economy Class” and “Best Frequent Flyer Program.”
