While most of the world reports its financial results following the solar year, the UAE follows the British way. That means that the financial year starts in April and ends in March. Therefore, when reading Emirates financial reports we find ourselves offset by 3 months with most other major airline group, except IAG. With that out of the way, looking at what the group announced, it seems the Emirates Group is headed for another solid year. Let me give you the rundown.
The Emirates Group 2024/25 First Semester Performance Overview
We’ve got to split things up a little here. Emirates we commonly refer to is the passenger airline which, however, isn’t the only operation the Emirates Group owns and runs. Alongside the airline the group operates cargo operations and Dnata (a very large ground handling company). Therefore when we refer to the Group, and that’s what I’ll do in this first part of the article, we include all the businesses.
As a whole, the Emirates Group generated in the first half of the 2024/25 FY:
- 2.8 Billion USD in Pre-Tax Profits which actually beat the record all time high reached in 2023/24.
- 2.5 Billion USD in Post-Tax Profits (tax is a very cute 9% compared to what I am used to in Italy).
- With total revenue clocking in at 19.3 Billion USD up by 5% over 2023/24. Last year in the fist half of the FY revenue was 18.3 Billion USD.
So as a group Emirates performed very well growing its business in both raw numbers and in profits. The picture is still good, but a little different looking at the airline’s operations.
Solid Results, But Costs Eating Into EK Airline Margins
The airline, which includes both passenger and cargo (Emirates SkyCargo) operations also performed well with some very tiny imperfections which the airline will be working on in the second half of the year.
Simply because despite the airline carrying 3% more passengers, its revenue remained stable and its profits actually slightly decreased. While 2023/24’s first 6 months saw a 5.3 Billion USD profits (before tax and interest EBITDA) this year’s is just below that at 5.2 Billion USD.
The reasons lay in to aspects we can pick up on in the Group’s semestral report:
- Emirates has been less efficient in fillings its planes. Average load factor is down from 81.5% last year to 80% this year. Still very good results but it means the operation is just that little more inefficient. This is also reflected in the faster growth of capacity with ASK (Available Seat per Kilometer) over the RPK (Revenue Passengers per Kilometer).
- Most importantly costs have risen further for the airline. In the first 6 months of FY 2024/25 costs have gone up by 6% and have eaten into the airline’s margins. Fuel, despite a slight contraction in price, still is the single largest expenditure for the carrier. Over 32% of outgoing cash is spent for fuel.
Recapping Emirates Airline’s first 2024/25 semester KPIs:
- ASK (Available Seat per Kilometer) up 4% over last year.
- RPK (Revenue Passengers per Kilometer) up 2% over last year.
- Avg. load factor 80%
- 26.9 million passengers carried from April 1st to September 30th
- Revenue 16.9 billion USD (up 5% against 16.2 Billion in first 6 months of FY 2023/24)
- Pre tax earnings 2.6 billion USD
- Post Tax earnings 2.4 billion USD