SINGAPORE, 15 May 2023: The Emirates Group released its 2022-23 Annual Report last week, reporting its most profitable year ever on the back of strong demand across its businesses.
For the financial year ended 31 March 2023, the Emirates Group posted a record profit of AED10.9 billion (USD3.0 billion) compared with an AED 3.8 billion (USD1 billion) loss last year.
The group’s revenue was AED119.8 billion (USD32.6 billion), an increase of 81% over last year’s results. The group’s cash balance was AED42.5 billion (USD11.6 billion), the highest ever reported, up 65% from last year, mainly due to strong demand across its core business divisions and markets.
HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman and chief executive, of Emirates airline and Group, said: “I’m proud of the Emirates Group’s performance for 2022-23 and our contribution to the restoration of air transport and tourism across the markets we serve, including Dubai’s astounding 97% year-on-year growth in international visitors for 2022.”
Sheikh Ahmed commented on the group’s 2022-23 turnaround performance: “We had anticipated the strong return of travel, and as the last travel restrictions lifted and triggered a tide of demand, we were ready to expand our operations quickly and safely to serve our customers. Our ongoing investments in our brand and in our products and services helped drive customer preference and position us favourably in the market. As a result, we have delivered a record financial performance and cash balance for our financial year 2022-23.”
Sheikh Ahmed added: “We go into 2023-24 with a strong positive outlook and expect the group to remain profitable. We will work hard to hit our targets while closely monitoring inflation, high fuel prices, and political and economic uncertainty.”
Emirates performance
Emirates’ total passenger and cargo capacity increased by 32% to 48.2 billion ATKMs in 2022-23 as the airline continued to reinstate passenger services across its network in line with the lifting of pandemic-related flight and travel restrictions.
In addition to launching services to Tel Aviv, Emirates relaunched flights to six destinations and increased operations to 62 cities across its network throughout the year to serve strong customer demand. By 31 March 2023, the Emirates network comprised 150 destinations across six continents, including nine cities served by its freighter fleet only.
Emirates also deployed its flagship A380 aircraft to more cities during the year, bringing its A380 network to 43 destinations as of 31 March 2023.
Emirates’ order book stands at 200 aircraft, including five additional Boeing 777-300ER freighter orders announced during 2022-23.
With significantly enhanced capacity deployment across most markets, Emirates’ total revenue for the financial year increased 81% to AED107.4 billion (USD29.3 billion).
Total operating costs increased by 57% from the last financial year. Cost of ownership (depreciation and amortisation) and fuel cost were the two biggest cost components for the airline in 2022-23, followed by employee cost. Fuel accounted for 36% of operating costs compared to 23% in 2021-22. The airline’s fuel bill increased by 143% to AED 33.7 billion (USD9.2 billion) compared to the previous year due to a higher uplift of 49% in line with capacity expansion and a higher average fuel price by 48%.
With the removal of pandemic-related travel restrictions globally, the airline substantially improved its financial results and reported a record profit of AED10.6 billion (USD2.9 billion) after last year’s AED 3.9 billion (USD1.1 billion) loss, and an exceptional profit margin of 9.9%, reflecting the best performance in the airline’s history.
Emirates carried 43.6 million passengers (up 123%) in 2022-23, with seat capacity up by 78%. The airline reports a Passenger Seat Factor of 79.5%, compared with last year’s passenger seat factor of 58.6%.
Emirates continued to invest in delivering ever-better customer experiences. During the year, it launched its full Premium Economy experience to hugely positive customer feedback, brought into service the first six of its newly retrofitted A380s with completely refreshed cabin interiors, and opened ‘Emirates World’ – a modern concept retail store which will gradually be introduced to other key markets. It also announced a US$ 350 million investment in new-generation inflight entertainment systems for its A350 fleet.
The full 2022-23 Annual Report of the Emirates Group – comprising Emirates, dnata and their subsidiaries – is available at: www.theemiratesgroup.com/annualreport
(Source: Emirates)
