Emirates Group has announced their first annual loss in over three decades for the financial year ending March 31, 2021. The Group reported a loss of $6.0 billion on a year-over-year decline in revenue of 66 percent to $9.7 billion.
On Tuesday (June 15, 2021) Emirates Group reported their first annual loss in over three decades for the financial year ending March 31, 2021. The Group reported a FY 2020/21 loss of AED 22.1 billion (US $6.0 billion) on a 66 percent year-over-year decline in revenue to AED 35.5 billion (US $9.7 billion). Emirates Group ended the year with AED 19.8 billion in cash (US $5.4 billion) down 23 percent, attributable to pandemic-related business and travel restrictions across the company’s core business divisions and markets.
In Tuesday’s announcement, Emirates Airline and Group’s Chairman and Chief Executive, His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Maktoum, said,
“The COVID-19 pandemic continues to take a tremendous toll on human lives, communities, economies, and on the aviation and travel industry. In 2020-21, Emirates and dnata were hit hard by the drop in demand for international air travel as countries closed their borders and imposed stringent travel restrictions.
“Our top priorities throughout the year were: the health and wellbeing of our people and customers, preserving cash and controlling costs, and restoring our operations safely and sustainably. Emirates received a capital injection of AED 11.3 billion (US$ 3.1 billion) from our ultimate shareholder, the Government of Dubai, and dnata tapped on various industry support programmes and availed a total relief of nearly AED 800 million in 2020-21. These helped us sustain operations and retain the vast majority of our talent pool. Unfortunately, we still had to make the difficult decision to resize our workforce in line with reduced operational requirements.
“No one knows when the pandemic will be over, but we know recovery will be patchy. Economies and companies that entered pandemic times in a strong position, will be better placed to bounce back. Until 2020-21, Emirates and dnata have had a track record of growth and profitability, based on solid business models, steady investments in capability and infrastructure, a strong drive for innovation, and a deep talent pool led by a stable leadership team. These fundamental ingredients of our success remain unchanged. Together with Dubai’s undiminished ambitions to grow economic activity and build a city for the future, I am confident that Emirates and dnata will recover and be stronger than before.
“In the year ahead, we will continue to adopt an agile approach in responding to the dynamic marketplace. We aim to recover to our full operating capacity as quickly as possible to serve our customers, and to continue contributing to the rebuilding of economies and communities impacted by the pandemic.”
Due to the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Group implemented the first redundancies in the company’s history across all parts of the business, resulting in a workforce reduction of 31 percent to 74,145 employees, representing more than 160 nationalities. The company also implemented tight cost controls, consolidated operations, and restructured financial and contractual obligations, resulting in a cost savings on approximately AED 7.7 billion (US $2.1 billion) during the financial year.
During 2020-21, Emirates Group invested AED $4.7 billion (US $1.3 billion) in new aircraft and facilities, company acquisitions, and investments in the latest technologies. The company also received three new Airbus A380s during the financial year and phased out 14 older aircraft including nine Boeing 777-300ERs and five Airbus A380s, closing the year with a fleet of 259 aircraft with an average age of 7.3 years. Emirates’ new aircraft order book remains unchanged at 200 aircraft.
Source: Emirates