6.2 billion despite the war

May 14th, 2026   Rédaction   No Comment   Airline    Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Dubaï, Emirates    1275 views

In the world of commercial aviation, there are good years and bad years. Then there’s Emirates, which seems to operate according to its own rules.

The airline posted a record pre-tax profit of $6.2 billion for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, up 7% compared to the previous year, with a pre-tax profit margin of 17.4%.

And this despite a disastrous March.

Because it’s important to understand the context in which these figures were produced.

On February 28, 2026, following coordinated Israeli-American strikes on Iran, ballistic missile and drone attacks targeted the United Arab Emirates, notably energy infrastructure and areas near major cities.

Emirati air defenses intercepted the majority of the projectiles, but debris caused damage to some civilian facilities.

In the days that followed, the region’s airspace was restricted, leading to the temporary suspension of many Emirates flights and the implementation of alternative routes.

Dubai’s Hub: A Machine of Resilience

The group’s CEO, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, summed up the year with a telling phrase: « March 2026 will eventually fade from memory, but we will never forget your bravery and incredible resilience, » he wrote to his teams.

Because beyond the figures, it was a human machine of 130,000 people that had to manage massive cancellations, diversions, flight rotation resets, and the care of tens of thousands of stranded passengers in real time.

Across the entire group, Emirates Group’s pre-tax profit reached 24.4 billion dirhams ($6.6 billion), up 7%, on revenues of 150.5 billion dirhams ($41 billion), up 3%.

Cash reserves climbed 12% to 59.6 billion dirhams ($16.2 billion), providing a comfortable margin for maneuver.

On the passenger side, the figure is counterintuitive but revealing: Emirates carried 53.2 million passengers, 1% fewer than the previous year. The load factor was 78.4%, slightly lower.

However, the result is up: the number of passengers in premium classes increased by 4%, a sign that the airline is selling better rather than simply more.

The premium product strategy is paying off, literally.

A Fleet Modernizing Amid Turbulence

Emirates took delivery of 15 Airbus A350s during the fiscal year, bringing the total to 19 aircraft in service as of March 31, 2026, with the first additions to the fleet arriving in November 2025.

These aircraft allow the airline to open routes where the giant A380 would be oversized and too expensive to operate. As of March 31, the total order book stood at 367 aircraft: 54 A350s, 270 Boeing 777Xs, 35 Boeing 787s, and 8 Boeing 777Fs, with deliveries scheduled through 2038.

The airline is also investing heavily in onboard comfort.

The $5 billion retrofit program is progressing: 91 of the 215 planned aircraft have already been fully refurbished with new cabins, including a redesigned Premium Economy class.

And to keep up with the connected times, Emirates signed an agreement with Starlink in November 2025, with 21 aircraft equipped with high-speed Wi-Fi by March 31, including the world’s first A380 to receive the installation, at Newquay Airport in April 2026.

The 20-week bonus: sharing the profits, the Dubai version

Perhaps the most significant social news of the week in the global aviation industry is this: the 131,000 employees of the Emirates Group will receive an exceptional bonus equivalent to twenty weeks’ salary, or approximately 38% of the annual base salary for cabin crew.

A spectacular way to share profits and, above all, to retain talent in