The Emirates Group, the company that includes the airline and ground handling unit dnata, ended its financial year with record profits, thanks to an unprecedented recovery in intercontinental travel, the most profitable segment for the sector. And for this reason it will give a bonus of 20 weeks – that is, five months – to over 110 thousand employees. The sum will be included in the May payroll and has a cost of 2.5 billion dollars, according to estimates by the Courier. “You have deserved this bonus for the heroic efforts you have made,” Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, president and CEO of the company and the group, wrote to the employees.
The budget
In the twelve months ended March 31, 2024, the Dubai group recorded its best performance with $5.1 billion in profit, the highest in its history and up 71% compared to the year before. Turnover rose to 37.4 billion and the cash balance amounted to 12.8 billion. Looking at the individual divisions, the airline closed with 4.7 billion in profit (it was 2.9 billion in 2022-2023) and 33 billion in revenue, while dnata with 400 million dollars in profit (it was 90 million per year before) and 5.2 billion in turnover.
Staff
As of March 31, 2024, according to official documents, the group had 112,406 employees, up 10% compared to the previous year: 63,466 are employed in the airline, 48,940 in dnata. The group continues to hire: thousands of pilots, flight attendants, engineers, customer service representatives, IT and other specialists are needed to support the expansion. This is the second consecutive year that Emirates has announced a bonus for its staff. But last year the recognition concerned just over 50 thousand employees.
On board
Emirates carried 51.9 million passengers from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, 19% more than in the previous twelve months. The highest figure dates back to 2018-2019 (58.6 million). The planes flew with an average fill rate of 79.9%. The carrier loaded 2.2 million tons of cargo into the holds of the planes. Among the curiosities: the fleet of Airbus A380s, the largest aircraft in the world, carried 42% of passengers.
The dividend
The group — which also invests in Italy with dnata through Airport Handling — also announced a dividend of 1.1 billion dollars to its owner Investment Corporation of Dubai. “Throughout the year we have seen high demand for air transportation and travel-related services around the world, and because we have been able to move quickly to deliver what customers want, we have achieved extraordinary results,” he said. commented the president and CEO of the airline and the group.
