More than 5 billion dirhams ($1.4 billion) in refunds have been released by Emirates Airline in reimbursements associated with the continuing international health emergency, the company said Monday.
The biggest carrier in the Middle East, Emirates said in a news release it had issued the refunds and, just like other big airlines, had suffered billions in losses as the coronavirus pandemic crippled most of the world's aviation. The crisis has forced Emirates to temporarily ground a lot of its aircraft.
The Dubai-based carrier said it continued to progress with its pledge to complete all pandemic-related refunds. So far, 1.4 million requests for reimbursements have been processed since March - or 90 percent of Emirates' total backlog.
Since the pandemic, Emirates has flown a limited number of commercial planes that from June started to be restructured. Last July, Emirates said it had returned more than $517 million in refunds from the previous two months. The carrier has since made cuts to its staff including employee paychecks.
Emirates reported more than $288 million in net profit for the fiscal year ended March compared with the $237 million it earned in the same period last year. It marked the 32nd consecutive year of profit for the airline group. However, the setback in the world's aviation business and demand this year could result in a loss.
Emirates employed around 60,000 workers including 4,300 pilots and almost 22,000 cabin personnel before the coronavirus crisis broke out, the airline's yearly financial report said.
Last month, Emirates chief operating officer Adel al-Redha said the company was planning to resume commercial operations by summer next year.
Meanwhile, Dubai finance authorities have released $2 billion for Emirates to help the company it controls withstand the recession, a bond document obtained by Reuters showed.
