The Emirates airline on Tuesday announced a $5.5 billion annual loss for the first time in more than three decades.
The Dubai-based airline says it ran into loss after the coronavirus pandemic devastated the aviation industry.
The airline said it received a capital injection of $3.1 billion from its owner, the government of Dubai, to survive the crisis.
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”, said the chairman and chief executive, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum.
“No one knows when the pandemic will be over, but we know recovery will be patchy,” he said in a statement.
Emirates, which is the Middle East’s largest carrier, said the fallout triggered a loss of 20.3 billion dirhams ($5.5 billion) over the financial year to March, after last year’s 1.1 billion dirhams ($288 million) profit.
The Emirates Group has announced its financial results for 2020-21, its first non-profitable year in over three decades, due to the COVID-19 pandemic impact. https://t.co/pAhEZKK3hi pic.twitter.com/pRE7NmTcxB
— Emirates (@emirates) June 15, 2021
The airline, which was forced to suspend operations last year, saw revenue fall by 66 percent to $8.4 billion.
Over the fiscal year, Emirates carried 6.6 million passengers, down 88 percent from the same period in the previous year.
“The Covid-19 pandemic continues to take a tremendous toll on human lives, communities, economies, and on the aviation and travel industry,” Sheikh Ahmed said in the statement.
“Economies and companies that entered pandemic times in a strong position, will be better placed to bounce back,” it added.
Heavy layoffs
The last time the airline reported a loss was in the 1987-88 financial year, when it was starting up its operations.
Like other major carriers, Emirates began announcing heavy layoffs when its fleet of A380 superjumbos and Boeing 777s was grounded.
In Tuesday’s statement, it said the Emirates Group’s employee base — which includes ground-handling firm Dnata — was slashed by 30.8 percent to 75,145 employees.
Before the virus hit the world, Emirates alone employed some 60,033 staff, including 4,300 pilots and nearly 22,000 cabin crew. The workforce has now shrunk to 40,801 staff.
Emirates is currently flying to 157 destinations, almost its full travel network of 158 destinations in 85 countries before the pandemic.
