Image Courtesy: forbes.com
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On June 15, Emirates announced a $5.5 billion annual loss over the past year since the revenue has declined by more than 66 per cent ($8.4 billion) after the imposition of travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The state-owned airline has received $3.1 billion from the government of Dubai to help it survive this crisis.
For the very first time in more than 30 years, Emirate’s parent company i.e. The Emirates Group has suffered a loss. The Dubai-based airline has said that its total passenger and cargo capacity has decreased by 58 per cent over the past year. The operating costs have seen a reduction of 46 per cent.
The airline had carried only 6.6 million passengers in 2020, displaying a huge decline of about 90% from the same period in the previous year whilst gaining a profit of $288 million.
The Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline & Group, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said, “The Emirates group was hit hard by the drop in demand for international air travel as countries closed their borders and imposed stringent travel restrictions.”
He stated that even though no ones the end of the pandemic, the airline’s recovery will be patchy. “The COVID-19 pandemic continues to take a tremendous toll on human lives, communities, economies and on the aviation and travel industry,” he added.
Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has referred to the pandemic as one of the biggest challenges faced by humanity in a brief statement.