Emirates Airline reports 21% increase in full-year profit

Emirates Airline reported a 21% increase in its full-year profit in the 12 months to March 31, it reported Sunday. The airline, one of the biggest long-haul carriers in the world, said it made 1.06b dirhams (US$287.5m) in that time, up from 871m dirhams the previous year. But the coming year will be severely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, the airline’s chairman said. Emirates Airline and Group Chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said that from February, things began changing rapidly as the coronavirus spread around the globe, halting international travel. “For the first 11 months of 2019-20, Emirates and dnata were performing strongly, and we were on track to deliver against our business targets. However, from mid-February things changed rapidly as the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the world, causing a sudden and tremendous drop in demand for international air travel as countries closed their borders and imposed stringent travel restrictions.” The pandemic cost Emirates over 3.4b dirhams in revenues in March, the airline said. Al Maktoum does not see air travel returning to normal for at least another 18 months, and warned that the Covid-19 will have a major effect on the coming year’s performance. <br/>