Inflight sales boost for Emirates

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Inflight duty-free sales at Emirates Airlines increased by 21.6% last year with real growth of 11% in spend per passenger. The company benefitted from a 19.8% increase in passenger volumes to 5.7m.

Emirates Group also posted a 24.1% increase in net profts to Dh531m ($145m), against the worldwide trend of airlines suffering from high jet fuel costs and volatile passenger traffic numbers. Group revenues also rose by 24% to reach Dh6.9bn ($1.9bn) in the year ended 31 March 2001. Excluding the ground handling and engineering division Dnata and IT division Mercator, profits at Emirates Airlines rose 40.2%.

Commenting on the performance Group Managing Director Maurice Flanagan said: "All in all, it was not an easy time as other airlines' financial results will confirm, but the Emirates Group managed to change a lacklustre year from gloom to boom."