Emirates Soars with $3.3bn Profit, Sustains Global Airline Leadership
The Emirates Group today announced a new record half-year financial performance, posting a profit before tax of US$ 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.
THECONSCIENCE NG reports that 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.
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 and dnata have invested billions to continually enhance our products and services, to bring new products to market, to improve our operations through innovation and technology, and to look after our employees who ensure our customers’ safety and satisfaction. These are core to our DNA.
“The Group’s strong profitability enables us to continue making these investments, and to scale up our proven business models in concert with Dubai’s growth as a global city of choice for talent, for businesses, and for tourists.”
HH Sheikh Ahmed added: “Global demand for air transport and travel services has been buoyant, despite geo-political events and economic concerns in some markets. We expect this demand resilience to continue for the rest of 2025-26 and look forward to increasing our capacity to grow revenues as new A350 aircraft join the Emirates fleet, and new facilities come online at dnata.”
To support increased operations and business activities, the Emirates Group’s employee base, compared to 31 March 2025, grew 3% to an overall count of 124,927 on 30 September 2025. Both Emirates and dnata have ongoing recruitment drives to support their future requirements.
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.
Between 1 April and 30 September, Emirates received delivery of 5 new A350 aircraft, adding more Business Class and Premium Economy seats into the airline’s inventory. During this period, 23 aircraft (6 A380s, 17 Boeing 777s) with fully refreshed interiors rolled out of the airline’s US$ 5 billion retrofit programme.
This enabled Emirates to bring its latest cabin products to even more markets, including the industry-leading Emirates Premium Economy. By 30 September, Emirates Premium Economy was available to customers flying between Dubai and 61 cities.
