The Emirates Group (which includes Emirates, Emirates Cargo, and handling firm dnata) has announced a new record half-year financial performance, posting a profit before tax of AED12.2 billion ($3.3 billion) for the first six months of the 2025-26 fiscal year. This makes the fourth consecutive year of record profitability for the half-year reporting period, said the airline.
After accounting for income tax charges, the Group’s profit after tax is AED 10.6 billion ($2.9 billion), up 13% over the same period in 2024/25. Highlighting the Group’s strong half-yearly performance, it returned earnings before tax (EBITDA) of AED21.1 billion ($5.7 billion), 3% higher than the AED20.4 billion ($5.6 billion) reported for the same period the previous year.
Group revenue was AED75.4 billion ($20.6 billion) for the first six months of 2025-26, up 4% from AED70.8 billion ($19.3 billion) in FY2024/25. The Group closed the first half of 2025-26 with a record cash position of AED56.0 billion ($15.2 billion) on September 30, 2025, compared to AED53.4 billion ($14.6 billion) on March 31, 2025.
According to the company, the Group has been able to tap into its own strong cash reserves to support business needs, including funding for new aircraft deliveries and servicing existing debt obligations. The Group also paid the remaining AED2 billion ($545 million) in dividends to its owner, of the AED6 billion ($1.6 billion) declared during the financial year 2024/25.
To support increased operations and business activities, the Emirates Group’s employee base, compared to March 31, 2025, grew 3% to an overall count of 124,927 on September 30, 2025. The Emirates Group has ongoing recruitment drives to support its future requirements.
The views of the Chairman
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.”
“This performance was primarily driven by the unflagging demand and growing customer preference for our product and services, which drove revenue growth and profitability.”
“The Emirates Group has 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.”
Sheikh Ahmed added: “Global demand for air transport and travel services has been buoyant, despite geopolitical 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.”
Rounding up Emirates’ latest performance
For the airline business, overall capacity during the first six months of the year increased by 5% to 31.3 billion Available Tonne Kilometres (ATKs) due to expanded flight operations. Capacity measured in Available Seat Kilometres (ASKs), increased by 5%, whilst passenger traffic carried measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs) was up by 4% with an average load factor of 79.5%, compared with 80.0% during the same period last year.
Emirates carried 27.8 million passengers between April 1 and September 30, 2025, up 4% from the same period the previous year. In its statement, Emirates said that the airline continued to enhance its network and connectivity options through its Dubai hub during the period.
During the first half of 2025/26, Emirates launched new flight services to Danang, Siem Reap, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou. As of September 30, the Emirates passenger and cargo network spanned 153 airports in 81 countries and territories. The airline strengthened its network connectivity by deploying 28 additional weekly scheduled flights to Antananarivo, Johannesburg, Muscat, Rome, Riyadh, and Taipei.
Additionally, providing even more connection options for customers, during the first six months of 2025/26, Emirates entered agreements with three codeshare and interline partners, which included Air Seychelles, Condor, and Aurigny.
Between April 1 and September 30, 2025, Emirates received delivery of five more Airbus A350 aircraft. During this period, 23 more aircraft (six A380s and 17 Boeing 777s) with fully refreshed interiors rolled out of the airline’s $5 billion retrofit program
“This enabled Emirates to bring its latest cabin products to even more markets, including the industry-leading Emirates Premium Economy,” said the airline. “By September 30, 2025, Emirates Premium Economy was available to customers flying between Dubai and 61 cities.”
What about Emirates Cargo?
Emirates SkyCargo transported 1.25 million tonnes in the first six months of the year, up by 4% compared to the same period last year. Customer demand for Emirates SkyCargo’s specialised products and excellent network of freighter and bellyhold cargo operations remained steady.
However, cargo yields decreased by 6% due to softening demand in some market segments amidst tariff concerns.
Emirates SkyCargo added capacity from three new Boeing 777 freighters during the period.
