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Emirates is well positioned to maintain its strategic advantage

The airline's first half performance demonstrates the intrinsic demand for travel that has been bolstered by the airline widening its route network and growing its freight operations

Emirates is well positioned to maintain its strategic advantage both in the GCC and beyond due to its strong cash balance of $11 billion and arrival of new aircraft that will help bolster the airline’s organic growth in the years to come, says an analyst.

Saj Ahmad, chief analyst at London-based StrategicAero Research, said Emirates first half performance demonstrates the intrinsic demand for travel that has been bolstered by the airline widening its route network and growing its freight operations.

“The world’s leading airline continued investments across its huge A380 and 777 fleets, especially with the introduction of the new Premium Economy products – something unique to the GCC and that no other GCC airline offers. This competitive advantage has seen Emirates carry almost 27 million passengers while showcasing a robust 80 per cent passenger seat factor,” Ahmad told Khaleej Times.

Reaching new heights

On November 7, Emirates airline posted Dh8.7 billion after tax profit during the first-half of financial year 2024-25 while profit before tax climbed to record Dh9.7 billion compared to Dh9.5 billion in the same period last year.

The airline’s revenue, including other operating income, rose five per cent to Dh62.2 billion as against Dh59.5 billion in the same period last year due to consistently strong travel and air cargo demand across markets, and its ability to offer customers great value and services.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group, said the group is investing billions of dollars to bring new products and services to the market.

“We expect customer demand to remain strong for the rest of 2024-25, and we look forward to increasing our capacity to grow revenues as new aircraft join the Emirates fleet and new facilities come online at dnata. The outlook is positive, but we don’t intend to rest on our laurels. We will stay agile in deploying our capacity and resources in a dynamic marketplace,” Sheikh Ahmed said.

Increasing connectivity

Emirates continued to enhance its network and increase connectivity options through its Dubai hub as the airline increased scheduled flights to eight cities — Amsterdam, Cebu, Clark, Luanda, Lyon, Madrid, Manila and Singapore, during the first half of 2024-25.

The airline also strengthened connectivity options for customers by entering into new agreements with seven codeshare, interline, and intermodal partners — AirPeace, Avianca, Blade, ITA Airways, Iceland Air, SNCF Railway, and Viva Aerobus.

The airline, which has 259 aircraft in its fleet, expanded its passenger and cargo network to 148 airports in 80 countries by 30 September. It carried 26.9 million passengers and 1.2 million tonnes of cargo during the first half of 2024-25.

Expanding network

Under its $4 billion retrofit programme, the airline rolled out eight aircraft — 3 A380s, 5 Boeing 777s with fully refreshed interiors, during April 1 and September 30.

“This enabled Emirates to accelerate the deployment of its latest cabin products, including its latest 4-class Boeing 777 that feature a new 1-2-1 layout of lie-flat seats with personal minibars in Business Class, and the popular Emirates Premium Economy,” according to the airline statement.

The first retrofitted Emirates 777 was deployed to Geneva in August, followed by Tokyo Haneda and Brussels. For the next six months, as more aircraft are retrofitted, Emirates has lined up 10 more routes for its refurbished 777s — Riyadh, Zurich, Kuwait, Damman, Chicago, Boston, Dallas Fort Worth, Seattle, Newark-Athens and Miami-Bogota.

“By year end, Emirates’ latest A380 and Boeing 777 inflight experiences including Premium Economy, will be available to customers on over 30 routes,” the statement said.

New aircraft soon

Saj Ahmad said the arrival of Emirates’ first new A350-900 aircraft is expected soon, which will further open up new market opportunities for Emirates and better fit new network points where the A380 is not needed. In turn, this will help bolster airline’s organic growth as it awaits the 777X fleet to eventually replace the current 777-300ER and 777-200LR fleets by 2026, Ahmad elaborated.

“With a strong cash balance of over $11 billion to hand, Emirates is well positioned to maintain its strategic advantage both in the GCC and beyond. Coupled with its ever expanding cooperation with flydubai, connectivity across the two carriers provides increased travel options for passengers through Dubai International Airport – the airport itself is on track for another record breaking year for passenger traffic in 2024,” Ahmad concluded.

— muzaffarrizvi@khaleejtimea.com