DUBAI, May 11 (Xinhua) — Dubai’s government-controlled carrier Emirates Airline said here on Thursday in an e-mailed statement it generated in the fiscal year 2016-2017, which ended on March 31, a profit of 340 million U.S. dollars, down from 1.93 billion dollars last year due to stronger dollar.
The statement said while this result represents the group’s 29th consecutive annual profit, “the relentless rise of the U.S. dollar against currencies in most of Emirates’ key markets had a 572 million dollar impact on airline revenue.”
“In addition, total operating costs increased by 8 percent. The average price of jet fuel fell slightly during the financial year,” the statement added.
Due to an 8-percent higher uplift in line with capacity increase, the carrier said, “the airline’s fuel bill increased by 6 percent over last year to 5.7 billion dollars.”
Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group, said Emirates has continued to deliver profits and grow the business, “despite 2016-2017 having been one of our most challenging years to date.”
