Emirates Group has seen its profits slump by 64 per cent due to strong competition and “dampened” travel demand.
The group, which is the parent company of Dubai-based airline Emirates, saw its half-year profit fall by nearly two-thirds to $364 million despite total revenue rising by 1 per cent to $12.7 billion.
Emirates itself saw revenue fall by 1 per cent to $11.4 billion between April and September despite increasing passenger numbers by 9% to 28 million, compared with the same six-month period in 2015.
The group pointed out that these figures were being compared with “one of its best ever half-year profit performances last year”.
Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman and CEO of Emirates Airline and Group, said: “Our performance for the first half of the 2016-17 financial year continues to be impacted by the strong US dollar against other major currencies.
“Increased competition, as well as the sustained economic and political uncertainty in many parts of the world has added downward pressure on prices as well as dampened travel demand.”
Al Maktoum added there was “no immediate resolution in sight” to the “bleak global economic outlook”.
“We continue to make strategic investments, because we know we have to work even harder for every customer, and make every dollar spent go even further through innovation and driving efficiency across our business,” he added.
Emirates is continuing to launch new destinations from its Dubai hub, such as Yinchuan and Zhengzhou in China, Yangon in Myanmar and Hanoi, Vietnam.
The next route to start will be Dubai to Fort Lauderdale in Florida, which is schedule to being service on December 15.