Karachi, UAE, 8 May 2025 – The Emirates Group today released its 2024-25 Annual Report, achieving new record profit, EBITDA, revenue, and cash balance levels. This outstanding performance places the Emirates Group as the most profitable aviation group globally in the 2024-25 reporting period, with Emirates reporting the best result in its history to become the world’s most profitable airline.
Emirates earns its place as the world’s most profitable airline, reporting:

• record profit before tax of AED 21.2 billion (US$ 5.8 billion), up 20% from last year
• record revenue of AED 127.9 billion (US$ 34.9 billion), an increase of 6% over last year
• highest-ever level of cash assets at AED 49.7 billion (US$ 13.5 billion), 16% higher compared to 31 March 2024
  This is the first financial year that the UAE corporate tax, enacted in 2023, is applied to the Emirates Group. After accounting for the 9% tax charge, the Group’s profit after tax is AED 20.5 billion (US$ 5.6 billion).
  HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates airline and Group said:

“It is no accident that Dubai has produced hugely successful global aviation entities including Emirates and dnata. Dubai’s aviation sector has become an influential force on the global stage thanks to visionary leaders, strategic planning, co-ordinated execution, and strong support from our customers, business partners, and all the people of Dubai.
“When the government set up Emirates 40 years ago and we began expanding dnata’s capabilities to support the city’s growth, we had a clear mission – be the best at what we do; and deliver value to Dubai, our stakeholders, and the communities we serve.
“With that in mind, we’ve kept a laser focus on providing great products and services, and we continually invest in technology and talent to increase our competitive edge. We look after our people and our customers, and we work hard to positively impact our communities. We don’t cut corners, and we don’t take shortcuts that put our future at risk for short term gains. By building our business models around these principles and Dubai’s unique strengths, the Emirates Group has thrived and stayed resilient through geo-political and socio-economic challenges over the years.”
HH Sheikh Ahmed added:
“For 2024-25, the Emirates Group has raised the bar to set new records for profit, revenue, and cash assets.” Emirates will strengthen its network connectivity with the expected delivery of 16 A350s and 4 Boeing 777 freighters in 2025-26.

To read the full press release, visit: https://www.emirates.com/media-centre/annual-report-2024-25/
Annual report media fact sheet: Media Fast Facts_Annual Report 2024-25

Karachi, 07 November 2024: The Emirates Group today announced its best-ever half-year financial performance, posting a profit before tax of AED 10.4 billion (US$ 2.8 billion) for the first six months of 2024-25, surpassing its record profit before tax for the same period last year.

This is the first financial year that the UAE corporate income tax, enacted in 2023, is applied to the Emirates Group. After accounting for the 9% tax charge, the Group’s profit after tax is AED 9.3 billion (USD 2.5 billion).

Demonstrating its strong operating profitability, the Group maintained a robust EBITDA of AED 20.4 billion (US$ 5.6 billion), slightly lower from AED 20.6 billion (US$ 5.6 billion) last year.

Group revenue was AED 70.8 billion (US$ 19.3 billion) for the first six months of 2024-25, up 5% from AED 67.3 billion (US$ 18.3 billion) last year. This reflects the consistently strong customer demand across business divisions, and across regions.

The Group closed the first half year of 2024-25 with a solid cash position of AED 43.7 billion (US$ 11.9 billion) on 30 September 2024, compared to AED 47.1 billion (US$ 12.8 billion) on 31 March 2024. The Group has been able to tap on its own strong cash reserves to support business needs, including payments for new freighter aircraft orders and other debt payments. The Group also paid AED 2 billion in dividend to its owner, as declared at the end of its 2023-24 financial year.

His Highness (HH) Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group said: “The Group has surpassed its record performance of last year to deliver a fantastic result for the first half of 2024-25. This again illustrates the power of our proven business model working in combination with Dubai’s growth trajectory as a city of choice to live, work, visit, connect through, and do business in.

“The Group’s strong profitability enables us to make the investments necessary for our continued success. We’re investing billions of dollars to bring new products and services to the market for our customers; to implement advanced technologies and other innovation projects to drive growth; and to look after our employees who work hard every day to ensure our customers’ safety and satisfaction.”

HH Sheikh Ahmed added: “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.”

To support increased operations and business activities, the Emirates Group’s employee base, compared to 31 March 2024, grew 3% to an overall count of 114,610 on 30 September 2024. Both Emirates and dnata have ongoing recruitment drives to support their future requirements.

Emirates airline

Emirates continued to enhance its network and increase connectivity options through its Dubai hub. During the first half of 2024-25, Emirates increased scheduled flights to 8 cities: Amsterdam, Cebu, Clark, Luanda, Lyon, Madrid, Manila and Singapore.

In May, Emirates restarted daily services to Phnom Penh in Cambodia via Singapore. In June, it launched daily services to Bogotá via Miami, expanding the airline’s South American presence to Colombia. In September, Emirates opened a new route to Madagascar via the Seychelles – taking its passenger and cargo network to 148 airports in 80 countries by 30 September.

Expanding connectivity options for customers, during the first six months of 2024-25, Emirates entered into new agreements with 7 codeshare, interline, and intermodal partners: AirPeace, Avianca, BLADE, ITA Airways, Iceland Air, SNCF Railway, and Viva Aerobus.

Between 1 April and 30 September, 8 aircraft (3 A380s, 5 Boeing 777s) with fully refreshed interiors rolled out of the airline’s US$ 4 billion retrofit programme. 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.

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.

On ground, AED 44 million was invested to open new signature Emirates Lounges for premium customers in London Stansted and Jeddah airports, and refurbish the existing facility at Paris Charles De Gaulle. This is part of an ongoing multi-million dollar programme to enhance its network of owned Emirates Lounges. In July, Emirates opened a new concept travel store in Hong Kong, its first outside of the UAE, and it plans to launch more experiential stores around its network as part of its retail strategy.

Emirates continued to progress on its environmental initiatives, uplifting sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) where available and feasible. During the first six months of 2024-25, Emirates uplifted SAF for the first time in Singapore and London Heathrow.

Emirates joined the Aviation Initiative for Renewable Energy (aireg) in Germany; and signed up as industry partner of the Aviation Impact Accelerator (AIA) at the University of Cambridge, contributing to the research and development of emissions reduction pathways. The AIA partnership also marked Emirates’ first disbursement from its US$ 200 million fund, specifically set aside to support R&D to advance sustainability solutions for aviation.

In the first half of 2024-25, Emirates boosted investments in its global brand visibility notably signing a significant new sponsorship deal to be Official Airline Partner of The Championships – Wimbledon. Emirates also extended its longstanding partnerships with the International Cricket Council (ICC) for a further 8 years, and with Portugal’s SL Benfica football club for another 5 years.

Overall capacity during the first six months of the year increased by 5% to 29.9 billion Available Tonne Kilometres (ATKM) due to expanded flight operations. Capacity measured in Available Seat Kilometres (ASKM), increased by 4%, whilst passenger traffic carried measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKM) was up by 2% with an average Passenger Seat Factor of 80.0%, compared with 81.5% during the same period last year. Emirates carried 26.9 million passengers between 1 April and 30 September 2024, up 3% from the same period last year.

Emirates SkyCargo transported 1,198,000 tonnes in the first six months of the year, up 16% compared to the same period last year, with notable volume contributions from strong Chinese eCommerce traffic, and a rise in shipments bound for Dubai.

Emirates SkyCargo was able to meet demand with added capacity from 1 new Boeing 777 freighter delivered, and 2 additional wet-leased Boeing 747Fs. During the first six months of 2024-25, Emirates placed orders for 10 additional Boeing 777 freighters to support its growth.

Strong customer demand for Emirates SkyCargo’s specialised products and excellent network of freighter and bellyhold cargo operations saw cargo yields increase by 11%.

Emirates profit before tax for the first half of 2024-25 hit a new record of AED 9.7 billion (US$ 2.6 billion), compared to AED 9.5 billion (US$ 2.6 billion) for the same period last year. Emirates profit after tax is AED 8.7 billion (US$ 2.4 billion).

Emirates revenue, including other operating income, of AED 62.2 billion (US$ 16.9 billion) was up 5% compared with AED 59.5 billion (US$ 16.2 billion) for the same period last year. The airline’s new record revenue can be attributed to consistently strong travel and air cargo demand across markets, and its ability to offer customers great value and services.

Emirates’ direct operating costs (including fuel) grew by 6% in line with increased operations. Fuel remains the largest component of the airline’s operating cost (32%), compared to 34% in the same period last year.

Driven by customer demand and increased operations during the six months, Emirates’ EBITDA of AED 19.1 billion (US$ 5.2 billion) remained very strong, although slightly down by 2% compared to AED 19.5 billion (US$ 5.3 billion) for the same period last year.

dnata

dnata saw strong growth in the first six months of 2024-25, as it continued to ramp up operations across its cargo and ground handling, catering and retail, and travel services businesses.

In the first half of 2024-25, dnata’s airport services and catering and retail divisions won several significant new contracts, and grew existing customers across its international operations. This shows dnata’s ability to serve the diverse requirements of its airline customers with high safety standards and consistently high-quality products and services.

dnata continued to make strategic investments in its business to respond to customer needs and tap on market prospects. Highlights in the first half of 2024-25 include: the expansion of its USA footprint with the launch of ground handling operations at Raleigh-Durham International airport; the signing of significant deals for new ground support equipment (GSE) estimated at a total value of over US$ 210 million over their lifespan; and the planned 50% increase in cargo handling capacity in Zurich, Switzerland, with additional warehouse capacity.

dnata also progressed its environmental agenda to reduce emissions, with investments to transition its entire fleet of non-electric airside vehicles and GSEs in the UAE to biodiesel, and the addition of more electric GSEs to its Brazil and UAE operations.

dnata’s revenue, including other operating income, of AED 10.4 billion (US$ 2.8 billion) increased by 11% compared to AED 9.3 billion (US$ 2.5 billion) generated in the same period last year.

Overall profit before tax for dnata is AED 720 million (US$ 196 million), down by 5% from the same period last year, primarily due to a one-off impairment charge of AED 152 million. dnata’s profit after tax is AED 571 million (US$ 156 million).

Illustrating its operating profitability, dnata’s EBITDA was AED 1.3 billion (US$ 354 million), up 16% from last year’s AED 1.1 billion (US$ 305 million).

dnata’s airport operations remains the largest contributor to revenue with AED 4.8 billion (US$ 1.3 billion), a 15% increase compared to the same period last year, as its airline customers’ operations continued to pick up particularly in Australia, Singapore, the UAE and UK. Across its operations, the number of aircraft turns handled by dnata increased by 2% to 391,365, and it recorded 1.5 million tonnes of cargo handled, up by 18% due to the buoyant demand for air cargo services globally.

dnata’s flight catering and retail operations, contributed AED 3.7 billion (US$ 1.0 billion) to its revenue, up 8% with catering production increases in Australia and the UK to meet customer demand, as well as the growth of its retail product as part of the division’s strategy, and the positive impact of revised contracts to reflect rising supply costs. The overall number of meals uplifted decreased by 5% to 62.7 million meals compared to last year’s 66.3 million meals.

dnata’s travel division contributed AED 1.8 billion (US$ 483 million) to revenue, up 23% compared to AED 1.4 billion (US$ 391 million) for the same period last year, with strong contributions from its Imagine Cruising, Destination Asia and Middle East Corporate Travel businesses. The division reported an underlying total transactional value (TTV) sales of AED 4.5 billion (US$ 1.2 billion), compared to AED 4.1 billion (US$ 1.1 billion) for the same period last year.

• The aviation sector supported 27% of Dubai’s GDP in 2023, with an economic contribution of AED 137 billion (USD 37.3 billion) – which is set to rise to almost a third of Dubai’s GDP by 2030. The total aviation sector impact includes the sector’s core impact as well as the catalytic impact of aviation-facilitated tourism
• The aviation sector supported over 630,000 jobs in 2023 and is forecasted to add another 185,000 jobs by 2030
• The catalytic impact of tourism facilitated by aviation contributed AED 43 billion (USD 11.8 billion) to the local economy in 2023, with its GDP contributions expected to grow by more than 40% by 2030

Karachi 24 October: Emirates Group and Dubai Airports have released an economic impact study reaffirming aviation’s pivotal role in Dubai’s economy. The study, compiled by global research firm Oxford Economics, provides insights into the sector’s current and projected contributions, assessing direct, indirect, and induced economic activity as well as the catalytic impact of aviation-driven tourism.
In 2023, the aviation sector, including Emirates Group, Dubai Airports (covering Dubai International and Dubai World Central – Al Maktoum airports), and other aviation entities, contributed AED 137 billion (USD 37.3 billion) to Dubai’s GDP, accounting for 27% of the total. This figure includes the core impact of AED 94 billion from aviation operations and AED 43 billion from aviation-facilitated tourism. By 2030, this contribution is expected to rise to AED 196 billion, representing 32% of Dubai’s GDP.
The sector also played a significant role in employment, supporting 631,000 jobs in 2023, equivalent to one in five jobs in Dubai. With projected growth, an additional 185,000 jobs will be created by 2030, bringing the total to 816,000 jobs.
His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline & Group and Chairman of Dubai Airports, emphasized that aviation remains a key pillar of Dubai’s economic growth strategy under the D33 Economic Agenda, which aims to further expand the city’s global role in trade, tourism, and logistics. With strong air connectivity, Dubai is already a prominent hub for international business and leisure travel. Sheikh Ahmed highlighted that Dubai World Central – Al Maktoum International Airport, when fully completed, will significantly enhance the city’s global standing. The airport, currently undergoing a AED 128 billion investment to expand its capacity, will ultimately be five times the size of Dubai International and able to serve 260 million passengers annually.
While the Dubai World Central (DWC) expansion is not included in the 2023 impact results, it is expected to contribute an additional AED 6.1 billion to Dubai’s GDP and 132,000 jobs by 2030.
Aviation is also a critical driver of tourism, with international visitors in 2023 contributing an estimated AED 66 billion to Dubai’s economy, staying an average of 3.8 nights and spending AED 4,300 on hotels, dining, attractions, and shopping. Aviation-facilitated tourism accounted for AED 43 billion in gross value added (GVA) to Dubai’s GDP and supported 329,000 jobs. By 2030, this figure is projected to grow to AED 63 billion, contributing 10% of Dubai’s GDP and supporting one in eight jobs in the emirate.
A previous report by Oxford Economics from 2014 also found that the aviation sector contributed 27% of Dubai’s GDP, but the number of jobs supported has risen significantly, reflecting faster growth and diversification across other sectors of the economy.
Dubai’s continued investments in aviation infrastructure, particularly the expansion of Dubai International Airport and Al Maktoum International, will play a vital role in the emirate’s future growth. These developments, aligned with the D33 Economic Agenda, will strengthen Dubai’s position as a global logistics and tourism hub, connecting it to 400 new destinations and making it one of the top five logistics centers globally.
The study illustrates the crucial link between aviation and Dubai’s broader economic success, emphasizing the role the sector plays in maintaining Dubai’s competitiveness on the world stage and its future economic prosperity.

Emirates SkyCargo has announced that it has crossed a major milestone in the global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines with 600 million doses flown on its flights. Since October 2020, the carrier has transported more than 2.8 million kilograms (2800 tonnes) of COVID-19 vaccines from 35 origins to over 80 destinations. Emirates SkyCargo operates to/from 5 cities in Pakistan and has transported more the 35 million vaccines to the country.

“Emirates SkyCargo remains committed to the rapid distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to vulnerable communities around the world. When we formulated our COVID-19 distribution strategy in 2020, Emirates SkyCargo prioritized the movement of COVID-19 vaccines through our Dubai hub to developing countries. I’m happy to announce that nearly two thirds of the total vaccines we transported were headed to destinations in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. With our extensive reach across six continents, our wide-body capacity and expertise in cool chain logistics, Emirates SkyCargo will continue to be a reliable partner for the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in the months to come,” said Nabil Sultan, Emirates Divisional Senior Vice President, and Cargo.

With the increasing roll-out of vaccination and booster campaigns across global markets, Emirates SkyCargo witnessed a steady increase in the demand for transportation of COVID-19 vaccines in the second half of 2021. In October and November 2021 alone, Emirates SkyCargo moved more than 200 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, almost one third of the total COVID-19 vaccines transported by the carrier since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Emirates SkyCargo has been a key global player in the air distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and other relief materials and essential commodities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The air cargo carrier offers sophisticated cool chain solutions for pharmaceutical cargo with Emirates Pharma- a specialised three-tiered air transportation product designed for temperature sensitive pharmaceuticals and backed by Emirates’ state of the art GDP certified pharma infrastructure at its cargo hub in Dubai. In June 2021, Emirates SkyCargo expanded its pharma cool chain infrastructure at Dubai International Airport, allowing it to store an additional estimated 60-90 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines.

Emirates SkyCargo offers cargo capacity on more than 2,800 weekly flights connecting more than 140 destinations across six continents.