Pandemic drags Emirates to US$ 5.5bn loss, its first in 33 years

REUTERS: Emirates said Dubai’s government would continue to support the airline through the coronavirus pandemic after posting an annual loss of US$ 5.5 billion, its first in more than three decades.

The airline’s chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said yesterday that the recovery from the COVID-19 crisis would be patchy and that no one could predict when it would end.

Dubai’s government had injected an extra US$ 1.1 billion into the airline since disclosing a US$ 2 billion lifeline last year, Emirates said in its annual report for the year to March 31.

State-owned Emirates is not the only national carrier to get government help during the coronavirus crisis, which has brought air travel to a standstill.

On Monday, Germany’s Lufthansa, which was forced to take 9 billion euros (US$ 11 billion) in aid in 2020, laid out plans to return to profit as a leaner, more thinly-staffed airline with fewer planes after the pandemic.

REUTERS: Emirates said Dubai’s government would continue to support the airline through the coronavirus pandemic after posting an annual loss of US$ 5.5 billion, its first in more than three decades.

The airline’s chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said yesterday that the recovery from the COVID-19 crisis would be patchy and that no one could predict when it would end.

Dubai’s government had injected an extra US$ 1.1 billion into the airline since disclosing a US$ 2 billion lifeline last year, Emirates said in its annual report for the year to March 31.

State-owned Emirates is not the only national carrier to get government help during the coronavirus crisis, which has brought air travel to a standstill.

On Monday, Germany’s Lufthansa, which was forced to take 9 billion euros (US$ 11 billion) in aid in 2020, laid out plans to return to profit as a leaner, more thinly-staffed airline with fewer planes after the pandemic.