Emirates Group suffers $ 3.8 b 1H loss; revenue down 74% to $ 3.7 b

• Says results significantly impacted by unprecedented flight and travel restrictions worldwide due to COVID-19 pandemic

The Emirates Group last week announced its half-year results for its 2020-21 financial year with Group revenue was AED 13.7 billion ($ 3.7 billion) for the first six months of 2020-21, down 74% from a year earlier.

This dramatic revenue decline was due to the COVID-19 pandemic which brought global air passenger travel to a halt for many weeks as countries closed their borders and imposed travel restrictions. As part of pandemic containment measures, Emirates and dnata’s hub in Dubai also suspended scheduled passenger flights for 8 weeks during April and May.

The Group reported a 2020-21 half-year net loss of AED 14.1 billion ($ 3.8 billion) as against a profit of $ 320 million.

The Group’s cash position on 30 September 2020 stood at AED 20.7 billion ($ 5.6 billion), compared to AED 25.6 billion ($ 7.0 billion) as at 31 March 2020.

Emirates Airline and Group Chairman and Chief Executive Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said: “We began our current financial year amid a global lockdown when air passenger traffic was at a literal standstill. In this unprecedented situation for the aviation and travel industry, the Emirates Group recorded a half-year loss for the first time in over 30 years.

“As passenger traffic disappeared, Emirates and dnata have been able to rapidly pivot to serve cargo demand and other pockets of opportunity. This has helped us recover our revenues from zero to 26% of our position same time last year.

“The Emirates Group’s resilience in the face of current headwinds is testimony to the strength of our business model, and our years of continued investment in skills, technology and infrastructure which are now paying off in terms of cost and operational efficiency. Emirates and dnata have also built strong brands and agile digital capabilities which continue to serve us well, and enabled us to respond adeptly to the accelerated shift of customer and business activities online over the past six months.”

Sheikh Ahmed added: “We would like to thank our customers for their continued support, and express our appreciation for the combined stakeholder efforts that have made it possible for Dubai to resume aviation and other economic activity so quickly and safely. No one can predict the future, but we expect a steep recovery in travel demand once a COVID-19 vaccine is available, and we are readying ourselves to serve that rebound. In the meantime, Emirates and dnata remain responsive in deploying resources to serve our customers and meet demand.

“We have been able to tap on our own strong cash reserves, and through our shareholder and the broader financial community, we continue to ensure we have access to sufficient funding to sustain the business and see us through this challenging period. In the first half of 2020-21, our shareholder injected $ 2 billion into Emirates by way of an equity investment and they will support us on our recovery path.”

The Emirates Group’s employee base, compared to 31 March 2020, is substantially reduced by 24% to an overall count of 81,334 as at 30 September 2020. This is in line with the company’s expected capacity and business activities in the foreseeable future and general industry outlook. Emirates and dnata continue to look at every means to protect its skilled workforce, including participating in job saver programs where these exist.

Emirates airline

During the first six months of 2020-21, Emirates retired three older aircraft from its fleet as part of its long-standing strategy to improve overall efficiency, minimise its emissions footprint, and provide high quality customer experiences.

As directed by the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority, Emirates temporarily suspended passenger flights on 25 March and worked closely with governments and embassies to operate repatriation services until Dubai International airport (DXB) re-opened for transit passengers and later for scheduled passenger flights. The airline also partnered with the health authorities to implement comprehensive pandemic health and safety measures onboard and on the ground, to safeguard its customers, employees and the communities it serves.

The airline also took its customer commitment to the next level, by expediting refunds, offering rebooking flexibility, setting up a COVID-19 travel information hub on its website to offer the latest updates on ever-changing travel requirements, and by launching the industry’s first COVID-19 medical cover for all passengers at no additional cost.

Emirates gradually restarted scheduled passenger operations on 21 May. By 30 September, the airline was operating passenger and cargo services to 104 cities.

Overall capacity during the first six months of the year declined by 67% to 9.8 billion Available Ton Kilometres (ATKM) due to a substantially reduced flight program over the past months, including the suspension of passenger flights at Dubai international airport for 8 weeks. Capacity measured in Available Seat Kilometres (ASKM), shrunk by 91%, whilst passenger traffic carried measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKM) was down by 96% with average Passenger Seat Factor falling to 38.6%, compared with last year’s pre-pandemic figure of 81.1%.

Emirates carried 1.5 million passengers between 1 April and 30 September 2020, down 95% from the same period last year. The volume of cargo uplifted at 0.8 million tons has decreased by 35% while yield has more than doubled by 106%. This reflects the extraordinary market situation for air freight during the global COVID-19 crisis, where drastically reduced passenger flights led to limited available capacity while airfreight demand rose strongly.

Emirates was able to uplift 65% of its cargo volumes compared to the same period last year, which shows its cargo division’s outstanding agility in adapting its operations to provide air freight services in this new environment. In a very short time, Emirates Skycargo completed the partial retrofit of 10 Boeing 777-300ER passenger aircraft to transport freight on the main deck, introduced new operation protocols to enable the safe uplift of cargo in passenger cabins, rapidly restarted and scaled up its global cargo network, and put in place comprehensive bio-safety protocols for employees.

In the first half of the 2020-21 financial year, Emirates loss was AED 12.6 billion ($ 3.4 billion), compared to last year’s profit of AED 862 million ($ 235 million). Emirates revenue, including other operating income, of AED 11.7 billion ($ 3.2 billion) was down 75% compared with the AED 47.3 billion ($ 12.9 billion) recorded during the same period last year. This result was due to severe flight and travel restrictions around the world relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Emirates operating costs reduced by 52% against the overall capacity decrease of 67%. Fuel costs were 83% lower compared to the same period last year. This was due to a decrease in oil prices (down 49% compared to same period last year), as well as a 76% lower fuel uplift from substantially reduced flight operations during the six months period up to end of September. Fuel, which was the always the largest component of the airline’s cost in past reporting cycles, only accounted for 11% of operating costs compared with 32% in the first six months of last year.

Despite the significant drop in operations during the six months, Emirates’ EBITDA stood positive at AED 290 million ($ 79 million) compared to AED 13.2 billion ($ 3.6 billion) for the same period last year.