Gulf juggernaut Emirates more than doubled its profit to $US762 million in 2017-18 despite competitive pressures, political instability, and rising oil prices.
The world"™s biggest international carrier benefitted from the weaker US dollar as well as the surge in the cargo industry as revenue rose 9 percent to $US25.2 billion.
Passenger numbers rose 4 percent to a record 58.5 million as the airline filled more seats as it kept capacity growth tight at 2 percent compared to 2016-17.
The passenger load factor rose 2.4 percentage points to 77.5 percent as passenger yield, a measure of average fares, increased 6.9 US cents per revenue passenger kilometre.
"Business conditions in 2017-18, while improved, remained tough,"™"™ Emirates chief executive and chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said. "We saw ongoing political instability, currency volatility and devaluations in Africa, rising oil prices which drove our costs up, and downward pressure on margins from relentless competition.
"On the positive side, we benefitted from a healthy recovery in the global air cargo industry, as well as the relative strengthening of key currencies against the US dollar»…
