Emirates maintains position as the world’s most profitable airline

The Emirates Group has announced a new record half-year financial performance, posting a profit before tax of AED 12.2 billion (US$ 3.3 billion) for the first six months of 2025-26, making this the fourth consecutive year of record profitability for the half-year reporting period.

After accounting for income tax charges, the Group’s profit after tax is AED 10.6 billion (US$ 2.9 billion), up 13% from last year.

Illustrating its strong operating performance, the Group maintained a robust EBITDA of AED 21.1 billion (US$ 5.7 billion), 3% higher than the AED 20.4 billion (US$ 5.6 billion) reported for the same period last year.

Group revenue was AED 75.4 billion (US$ 20.6 billion) for the first six months of 2025-26, up 4% from AED 70.8 billion (US$ 19.3 billion) last year.

The Group closed the first half year of 2025-26 with a record cash position of AED 56.0 billion (US$ 15.2 billion) on 30 September 2025, compared to AED 53.4 billion (US$ 14.6 billion) on 31 March 2025. The Group has been able to tap on its own strong cash reserves to support business needs, including funding for new aircraft deliveries and servicing existing debt obligations. The Group also paid the remaining AED 2 billion (US$ 545 million) in dividend to its owner, of the AED 6 billion (US$ 1.6 billion) declared during the financial year 2024-25.

His Highness (HH) Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group said: “The Group has once again delivered an outstanding performance, surpassing our half-year results of last year to achieve a new record profit for H1 2025-26. I’m delighted to note that Emirates maintains its position as the world’s most profitable airline for this half-year reporting period.

“This performance was primarily driven by the unflagging demand and growing customer preference for our product and services, which drove revenue growth and profitability.

Emirates continued to enhance its network and connectivity options through its Dubai hub.  During the first half of 2025-26, Emirates launched new flight services to: Danang, Siem Reap, Shenzhen and Hangzhou. At 30 September, Emirates’ passenger and cargo network spanned 153 airports in 81 countries and territories.

The airline strengthened its network connectivity by deploying 28 additional weekly scheduled flights to: Antananarivo, Johannesburg, Muscat, Rome, Riyadh and Taipei.

Providing even more connection options for customers, during the first six months of 2025-26, Emirates entered agreements with 3 codeshare and interline partners: Air Seychelles, Condor, and Aurigny.

Emirates continued to progress on its environmental initiatives, uplifting sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) where available and feasible, including at 37 airports.  In April, Emirates joined the Aviation Circularity Consortium (ACC), a network of organisations committed to building a circular economy for aviation and creating new pathways to accelerate decarbonisation through high-value circularity in the global supply chain.

Overall capacity during the first six months of the year increased by 5% to 31.3 billion Available Tonne Kilometres (ATKM) due to expanded flight operations. Capacity measured in Available Seat Kilometres (ASKM), increased by 5%, whilst passenger traffic carried measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKM) was up by 4% with an average Passenger Seat Factor of 79.5%, compared with 80.0% during the same period last year. Emirates carried 27.8 million passengers between 1 April and 30 September 2025, up 4% from the same period last year.

Cementing its position as the world’s most profitable airline for the half year reporting period, Emirates profit before tax for the first half of 2025-26 hit a new record of AED 11.4 billion (US$ 3.1 billion), compared to AED 9.7 billion (US$ 2.6 billion) last year. Emirates profit after tax is AED 9.9 billion (US$ 2.7 billion), up 13% from last year.

Emirates revenue, including other operating income, of AED 65.6 billion (US$ 17.9 billion) was up 6% compared with AED 62.2 billion (US$ 16.9 billion) for the same period last year. The airline’s new record revenue can be attributed to unabated travel appetite across markets, and customer preference for Emirates’ products and services, particularly for its premium cabins.

Emirates’ operating costs (including fuel) grew by 4% in line with increased operations. Fuel remains the largest component of the airline’s operating cost at 30%.