Emirates’ annual profits rise despite Middle East war disruption

Emirates Group reported a 3% rise in annual profits for the year to March 31, despite Middle East disruptions. Photo / Getty Images

Emirates Group announced a 3.0% rise in annual profits to US$5.7 billion on Thursday despite severe disruption from the Middle East war, with flights grounded and Dubai airport repeatedly targeted.

The state-owned entity that includes Emirates reported record pre-tax profits of US$6.6b ($11.1b) and record cash assets of US$16.2b.

March, the last month of the financial year when Iran launched daily strikes at its wealthy Gulf neighbours, was “disruptive and challenging”, it said.

“For the first 11 months of 2025-26, the picture across the group was very positive,” chairman and chief executive Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said.

“Although we are still operating at a lower passenger capacity than pre-disruption, cargo operations have ramped up to support the movement of essential goods into and through the UAE,” he added.

Flights to and from Dubai’s main airport, the world’s busiest international hub, have been curtailed since Iran’s retaliatory attacks began on February 28.

The United Arab Emirates, which hosts US troops, has borne the brunt of Iranian strikes with more than 2800 drone and missile attacks reported but most of them intercepted.

“On February 28, military activity massively disrupted global commercial air traffic in the Gulf region, including in the UAE,” the annual report said.

Using safe corridors, flights resumed on March 2 and Emirates was flying 58% of its passenger capacity to 122 destinations by the end of the month.

Passenger numbers slipped 1% to 53.2 million over the financial year, Emirates said.

The group paid a dividend of US$1b to its owner, the Investment Corporation of Dubai.

“We hope for a clear resolution to the hostilities soon, and a return to market stability. But in the meantime, we are not sitting on our hands,” Sheikh Ahmed said.

He said Emirates was “well-hedged” on fuel costs until 2028-29, providing protection from the surge in oil prices triggered by the war.

“We have worked with our suppliers to secure the volumes required to support our current operations and our scaling-up to pre-disruption levels,” the Emirates chief said.

The war has posed the biggest challenge for Emirates since the pandemic, when it grounded its fleet and posted a US$5.5b loss in 2020-21.

The UAE was targeted by drones and missiles for the first time in more than a month this week, with an oil facility set on fire. A UAE oil tanker was also hit by drones in the Strait of Hormuz.

On Monday, Dubai Airports reported a 66% slump in March passenger traffic year-on-year. Quarterly traffic was down 21% to 18.6 million in January-March.

Emirates this week said it had rebuilt 96% of its global network and was travelling at 75% of its pre-disruption capacity.

An Emirates spokesman on Thursday said New Zealand capacity was moving strongly.

He said Christchurch was continuing to provide daily flights to Dubai via Sydney, and Auckland flights were operating four days a week.

– AFP

Additional reporting: NZ Herald