Emirates, like many other airlines across the globe, had to cancel countless flights when the Iran war first kicked off back in February.
The United Arab Emirates based airline was operating a reduced flight schedule for some time, following a partial reopening of regional airspace.
Its flights were even temporarily grounded at Dubai International Airport – the airline’s main hub – back in March after the airport was hit by drone attacks.
Air travel is still going through turmoil months later, and experts have warned up to 85,000 flights could be cancelled in June if the conflict and jet fuel crisis continues.
Concerns about a jet fuel supply crunch due to the conflict disrupting Middle East supplies since late February are growing in Europe as the peak travel season nears.
Fuel prices have surged since the US-Israeli strikes on Iran upended traffic through the key Strait of Hormuz, leading to the airlines’ worst crisis since the pandemic.
But despite the difficulties Emirates experienced in the final month of the financial year, it has now been named the world’s most profitable airline.
The carrier reports a $6.2billion (£4.5billion) profit before tax – a seven per cent increase from last year – as well as record-breaking revenue of $35.7billion (£26.2billion).
It also has the highest-ever level of cash assets for an airline of $15billion (£11bn) – 10 per cent up from March 31, 2025.
The UAE’s corporate rate tax also increased from nine per cent to 15 per cent this year, meaning the company’s profit after tax is $5.7billion (£4.2billion) – three per cent up from 2024-2025.
This positive news for Emirates is despite the fact it was one of the worst hit by the war causing airspace closures and airport disruption, as well as rising fuel costs.
Airlines have already cut two million seats from May’s schedules within the past two weeks. The total number of seats across all carriers this month fell from 132,619,704 in mid April to 130,674,864 in late April, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
The number of flights fell by more than 13,000 over the same period – from 859,167 to 846,162 – with Gulf airlines such as Qatar, Etihad and Emirates worst hit.
Now, the situation could worsen – with one expert saying 10 per cent of flights could be at risk in June if supplies continue to be squeezed, equating to about 85,000.
Paul Charles from travel consultancy The PC Agency told the Mail: ‘Airlines are now being forced to cut flights and make difficult decisions ahead of the peak season.
‘It is better for them to cancel flights well in advance so that passengers are less inconvenienced than a last-minute change of plan. As the Iran conflict continues, there will need to be many more cancellations as the jet fuel supply is squeezed.’
So how has Emirates managed to have a record-breaking year despite the huge setbacks?
His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman and chief executive of Emirates airline described how the first 11 months were ‘very positive’ and the airline and group experienced a ‘strong demand’ for its products and services which helped to drive revenue.
‘Month after month, we were surpassing our targets,’ he added.
‘On 28 February, military activity massively disrupted global commercial air traffic in the Gulf region, including in the UAE,’ the chief executive continued.
‘Emirates and dnata quickly mobilised to support our people and affected customers, protect our assets, and ensure business continuity.’
HH Sheikh Ahmed put the continued success despite the conflict down to Dubai’s ‘years of infrastructure investments and a cohesive aviation ecosystem’ which he says ‘enabled the government to quickly secure safe corridors for commercial flights’.
Now, operations have been gradually restored from Dubai Airport but the airline notes, ‘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.’
The group invested $4.9billion (£3.6billion) into new aircraft, facilities, equipment and new technology in the 2025 to 2026 financial year.
It also increased its workforce by eight per cent – totalling to 130,919 employees.
Looking onwards, Emirates is hopeful ‘for a clear resolution to the hostilities soon, and a return to market stability’.
It also revealed it is ‘well-hedged’ for jet fuel until 2028-2029.
Earlier this week, Emirates announced it had made a near-full return to operations and had returned to 96 per cent capacity.
It has begun to resume services across the Americas, Europe, Africa, West Asia, the Middle East/GCC, the Far East and Australasia.
Now, it is covering 137 destinations across 72 countries – 75 per cent of pre-disruption capacity.
It also managed to carry a whopping 4.7million passengers during the disruption with its reduced schedule which it describes as ‘a testament to the enduring demand for travel and the trust that travellers continued to place in the airline to get them where they needed to go’.
HH Sheikh Ahmed finished: ‘These outstanding results, despite significant challenges in the last month of our financial year, reaffirm the strength and resilience of the Emirates Group’s business model, which is rooted in safety, excellence, innovation, people and partnerships.’
Credit: Daily Mail
