The Emirates Group has announced exceptional financial results for the first half of the fiscal year 2025-2026, spanning from April 1 to September 30, 2025.
The group recorded a pre-tax profit of 12.2 billion dirhams during the first six months of the fiscal year, marking the fourth consecutive year of record interim profits. After accounting for income tax expenses, the net profit stood at 10.6 billion dirhams.
The group reported earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of 21.1 billion dirhams, reflecting a 3% increase compared to 20.4 billion dirhams during the same period last year, showcasing strong operational profitability.
During the first half of the fiscal year 2025-2026, the group achieved revenues of 75.4 billion dirhams, a 4% rise from 70.8 billion dirhams reported in the same period the previous year.
The group concluded the first half of the fiscal year 2025-2026 with a record cash balance of 56.0 billion dirhams as of September 30, 2025, compared to 53.4 billion dirhams on March 31, 2025.
The strong cash reserves enabled the group to meet business needs, including payment for new aircraft orders and other debts. Additionally, the group paid 2 billion dirhams of the remaining owner’s share from a total of 6 billion dirhams, as announced at the end of the fiscal year 2024-2025.
Global Leadership
His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and the Group, stated, “The Emirates Group continues to perform outstandingly with consistency and confidence, achieving record interim financial results for the fiscal year 2025-2026.
This again affirms the robustness of our business model and our capacity for sustainable growth year after year. The results from the first half further cement Emirates Airline’s status as the world’s most profitable carrier, attributable to operational efficiency, a strong brand, and growing customer trust.”
He added: “This exceptional performance is due to sustained strong demand for travel and increasing customer confidence in our services and products, positively impacting revenue and profitability growth.”
He continued: “Emirates and dnata have invested billions of dirhams to enhance operational efficiency and expand their capabilities through innovation and technology while ensuring the well-being of our employees who are fundamental to our success and performance sustainability. These commitments are at the core of our corporate culture, enabling us to maintain our competitiveness in a rapidly changing marketplace.”
He concluded: “This strong performance gives us the momentum needed to confidently continue investing in the future and expanding our operations, aligning with Dubai’s ambitions of establishing itself as a leading global city for business, tourism, and innovation.”
“Despite geopolitical events and economic challenges in some markets, global demand for air transport and travel services remained robust. We expect this strong demand to persist throughout the remainder of 2025-2026, and we are looking forward to expanding our capacity for revenue growth, especially with the arrival of new A350 aircraft into Emirates’ fleet and the launch of dnata’s new facilities.”
To keep pace with the expansion of operations and business activities, the Emirates Group increased its workforce, which grew by 3% compared to March 31, 2025, bringing the total number of employees to 124,927 as of September 30, 2025. Emirates and dnata continue to conduct recruitment campaigns to support future needs.
New Services
Emirates has continued to expand its destination network and connection options through its hub in Dubai. During the first half of the fiscal year 2025-2026, the airline launched new services to Da Nang in Vietnam, Siem Reap in Cambodia, and Shenzhen and Hangzhou in China.
As of September 30, 2025, Emirates’ passenger and cargo network extended to 153 airports in 81 countries and territories. The network was enhanced by adding 28 additional weekly flights to:
Antananarivo, Johannesburg, Muscat, Rome, Riyadh, and Taipei. To provide more connection options for customers, Emirates entered into code-share and interline agreements with Seychelles Airline, Condor, and Aurigny during the first six months of 2025-2026.
Between April 1 and September 30, Emirates received five new Airbus A350 aircraft, which added more business and premium economy seats to its fleet.
During the same period, 23 aircraft (6 Airbus A380 and 17 Boeing 777) were fully upgraded as part of its 5 billion dollar aircraft modernization program, enabling the airline to offer its latest cabin products to a broader market.
This includes premium economy, which as of September 30 became available to customers traveling between Dubai and 61 cities worldwide.
The airline also opened a first-class check-in lounge at Dubai International Airport, providing first-class customers and platinum tier members of the Emirates Skywards program with a luxurious private area and exceptional experience.
In the first half of the fiscal year 2025-2026, Emirates accelerated the implementation of its exclusive retail strategy by launching travel shops in Accra, Bangkok, Geneva, Jakarta, Mauritius, Osaka, Seoul, and Singapore.
Environmental Initiatives
Emirates continued to advance its environmental initiatives by increasing the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) where available and feasible in 37 airports.
In April, Emirates joined the Aviation Circular Economy Coalition, a network of organizations committed to establishing a circular economy for aviation and creating new pathways to accelerate carbon reductions through high-value circularity in the global supply chain.
During the first half of the fiscal year 2025-2026, Emirates made significant investments to enhance its global brand presence.
The airline signed multiple multi-year sponsorship deals, becoming a platinum partner of Germany’s Bayern Munich and the official sponsor of the Real Madrid basketball team, as well as the exclusive partner and official carrier for the Investec Cup and the Challenge Cup for the European Professional Rugby Clubs.
Moreover, it extended its partnership with the ATP Tour, becoming the main partner and official carrier of the tour until 2030, alongside sponsoring Olympique Lyon’s jersey until 2030.
The overall capacity increased by 5% during the first six months of the fiscal year, reaching 31.3 billion available ton-kilometers, which is attributed to the expansion of flight operations.
Passenger capacity measured by available seats multiplied by kilometers traveled also rose by 5%, while passenger traffic measured by revenue passenger kilometers increased by 4%.
The seat load factor was at 79.5%, compared to 80.0% during the same period last year. Emirates transported 27.8 million passengers between April 1 and September 30, 2025, marking a 4% increase over the same period last year.
Cargo
Emirates SkyCargo transported 1.25 million tons during the first six months of the fiscal year, reflecting a 4% growth compared to the same period last fiscal year. Customer demand for specialized cargo products and the airline’s distinguished network of passenger and freighter operations continued to thrive.
Nevertheless, the average yield from air cargo decreased by 6% due to reduced demand in certain market segments, amid concerns related to tariffs.
Emirates SkyCargo also received three 777 freighters. In April, the carrier launched the “Emirates Quick Cargo Services,” an innovative product leveraging the strength of its global network to provide fast door-to-door shipping services specifically for businesses.
Most Profitable
As it solidified its position as the most profitable airline globally for the interim results, Emirates achieved record pre-tax profits of 11.4 billion dirhams for the first half of 2025-2026, compared to 9.7 billion dirhams for the same period last year. The net profit after taxes was 9.9 billion dirhams.
Emirates’ revenues, including other operating revenues, totaled 65.6 billion dirhams, reflecting a 6% increase from 62.2 billion dirhams for the same period last year.
This remarkable revenue growth is attributed to sustained strong demand for travel across various markets and customer preference for Emirates’ products and services, particularly in premium cabins.
Operational costs, including fuel, increased by 4%, aligning with the expansion of operations, with fuel representing the largest portion of operational costs at 30%.
Driven by customer demand and operational growth during the six months, the earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization remained robust, recording 19.7 billion dirhams, a 3% rise compared to 19.1 billion dirhams in the same period last year.
Emirates Flight Catering experienced a 13% growth in revenue from external customers, reaching 555 million dirhams, providing 7.7 million meals, a 2% increase for 116 airlines during this period.
Additionally, Emirates Leisure and Retail acquired the remaining 25% stake in Air Ventures LLC in the United States, securing full ownership of the entity managing retail outlets and restaurants in airports.
dnata
dnata witnessed robust growth during the first half of the fiscal year 2025-2026, driven by enhanced operations in cargo, ground handling, catering, retail, and travel services.
In the first half of the fiscal year, dnata for catering and airport services secured several significant new contracts and expanded its current customer base through international operations. This underscores dnata’s ability to meet the diverse needs of its airline clients with high safety standards and quality products and services.
dnata continued its strategic investments in its operations to respond to customer needs and leverage market opportunities. It announced plans to deploy 800 new ground support equipment (GSE) units across its global network in 2025, with an investment of $110 million, to enhance operational performance and supply equipment with lower carbon emissions, supporting dnata’s growth and sustainability goals.
Highlights for dnata in the first half of the fiscal year include the launch of its airport hospitality brand “Marhaba” in the UK.
dnata also made a minority investment of 3 million euros in the advanced booking platform “WonderMiles” to strengthen dnata’s travel offerings in the corporate sector, while divesting its 75% stake in Super Bus, which operated sightseeing tours in the UAE.
dnata achieved a new revenue record during the first half of the fiscal year, surpassing the $3 billion mark for the first time during this period.
dnata’s revenue, including income from other operations, rose by 13%, totaling 11.7 billion dirhams compared to 10.4 billion dirhams in the same period last year.
dnata’s total pre-tax profits reached 843 million dirhams, a 17% increase compared to the same period last fiscal year, with net profits after tax at 697 million dirhams.
dnata demonstrated strong operational profitability, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization totaling 1.4 billion dirhams, reflecting a 5% increase from 1.3 billion dirhams in the first half of the previous fiscal year.
dnata’s airport operations remained the largest contributor to dnata’s revenues, amounting to 5.5 billion dirhams, a 15% increase in the first half of the fiscal year compared to the previous year, driven by ongoing customer demand, particularly in Italy, Australia, the UK, and the UAE.
His Highness
The Emirates Group maintains its distinguished performance with consistency and confidence.
Strong demand for travel and customer trust reflected in revenue and profitability growth.
We expect the strong demand to continue for the remainder of the fiscal year and look forward to increasing our capacity for revenue growth.