Emirates: Frustrated despite
Soaring Profit — February 2025

Emirates celebrates its fortieth birthday this year. Over the past four decades it has grown to become the world’s largest international airline (measured in international RPK) flying to 139 destinations in 77 countries across six continents with a fleet of 264 widebody aircraft. It has achieved many accolades including “World’s Best Airline” from Skytrax in 2016 and “Best Airline in the World” from the prestigious ULTRAs 2024 awards.

Emirates has been consistently, if moderately, profitable. In the decade leading up to the 2020 pandemic, even while the numbers of passengers carried grew by a compound annual average 12%, and it suffered intense competition from close neighbours Qatar and Etihad — both trying to emulate Emirates’ success — it returned an average 6% operating margin and 4% net.