March Conflict Dents Emirates’ Record Year

Despite a turbulent month of March, Emirates Group has produced a record-high profit in its financial year 2025-2026 that ended on March 31. The Dubai-based company reported a profit before tax of AED 24.4 billion ($6.6 billion) for Emirates Airline and dnata, up 7.1 percent year-over-year

. Profit after tax is AED 21.1 billion.

President Sir Tim Clark indicated late last month that Emirates’ results had exceeded previous years, despite the effects of the Middle East war. In a media statement, Chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, says: “For the first 11 months of 2025-26, the picture across the Group was very positive. Strong demand for our products and services was driving revenue, and we were achieving healthy margins thanks to our sustained investments in product, people, technology and brand. Month after month, we were surpassing our targets.”

This came to an abrupt standstill on February 28, and in particular on March 1 and 2, when the UAE airspace was closed, and Emirates had to suspend most of its flights for a few days. At the end of March, capacity had recovered to 58 percent. Since then, the airline has recovered to 75 percent and is operating on 96 percent of the network, it said earlier this week.