Following decline in earnings, airline confirms it will not be distributing profit share

There will be no bonuses for Emirates Airline’s employees this year.

A spokesperson for the Dubai-based carrier on Sunday confirmed that unlike in the previous years, its thousands of staff will not be getting an extra compensation.

The incentive, commonly known as “profit share,” is usually distributed at the end of the financial year to employees of Emirates Group.

Citing a difficult year, the airline reported last week that its profits declined 69 per cent to Dh871 million for the financial year ended March 31, 2019.

“2018-19 has been tough, and our performance was not as strong as we would have liked,” Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman and chief executive of Emirates Airline and Group, said.

“Higher oil prices and the strengthened US dollar eroded our earnings, even as competition intensified in our key markets. The uptick in global airfreight demand from the previous year appears to have gone into reverse gear, and we also saw travel demand weaken, particularly in our region, impacting both dnata and Emirates.”

Last year, Emirates employees received a payout following the announcement that the airline made Dh4.1 billion in profit for the financial year ended March 2018. The bonus was equivalent to five week’s salary, and also applied to the rest of the staff at Emirates Group.

Emirates Group, the airline’s parent company, has a total of 105,286 workers from more than 160 countries. The overall workforce had actually increased by 2 per cent over the past year, according to the company.

The airline’s passenger and cargo capacity reached 63.3 billion at the end of 2018-19. At the same time, it received 13 new aircraft and phased out 11 older ones. Its total fleet now accounts for 270 aircraft.

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