Emirates Group hits new half-year profit record for 2025-26
- barboraarendasova
- 20 hours ago
- 3 min read
The Emirates Group today announced a new record half-year financial performance, posting a profit before tax of AED 12.2 billion (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. After accounting for income tax charges, the Group’s profit after tax is AED 10.6 billion (US$ 2.9 billion).
Illustrating its strong operating profitability, the Group maintained a robust EBITDA of AED 21.1 billion (US$ 5.7 billion), 3% higher than the AED 20.4 billion (US$ 5.6 billion) reported for the same period 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 payments for new aircraft deliveries and other debt. The Group also paid AED 2 billion (US$ 545 million) in dividend to its owner, as declared at the end of its 2024-25 financial year.
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.
“We saw benefit from lower fuel prices and a favourable currency exchange environment, but primarily, it was the unflagging demand and growing customer preference for our product and services that 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.
dnata
dnata saw strong growth in the first six months of 2025-26, as it continued to ramp up operations across its cargo and ground handling, catering and retail, and travel services businesses.
In the first half of 2025-26, dnata’s airport services and catering and retail divisions won several significant new contracts and grew existing customers across its international operations. This shows dnata’s ability to serve the diverse requirements of its airline customers with high safety standards and consistently high-quality products and services.
dnata continued to make strategic investments in its business to respond to customer needs and tap on market prospects. It announced plans to deploy 800 new ground support equipment (GSE) units across its global network in 2025, an investment valued at US$ 110 million to further enhance operational performance and secure a steady supply of advanced, lower-emission equipment to support dnata’s growth and sustainability targets.
Other highlights in the first half of 2025-26 include: the launch of its airport hospitality brand, marhaba, in the United Kingdom; a €3 million minority stake investment in WonderMiles, an advanced NDC-enabled booking platform to strengthen dnata Travel’s corporate business offering; and the disposal of its 75% stake in Super Bus, which operates sightseeing tours in the UAE.
dnata also entered its first major sports sponsorship partnership, signing a three-year agreement with Dubai Basketball to become a Founding Partner of the city’s first professional basketball franchise.
dnata’s revenue, including other operating income, of AED 11.7 billion (US$ 3.2 billion) increased by 13% compared to AED 10.4 billion (US$ 2.8 billion) generated in the same period last year. Overall profit before tax for dnata is AED 843 million (US$ 230 million), up by 17% from the same period last year. dnata’s profit after tax is AED 697 million (US$ 190 million). Illustrating its operating profitability, dnata’s EBITDA was AED 1.4 billion (US$ 372 million), up 5% from last year’s AED 1.3 billion (US$ 354 million).
Image source: trackonomy.ai
