Gearing up UAE Airline to tap potential Global Market

DUBAI, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Middle East's biggest carrier Emirates said here on Wednesday that it has expanded its global route network by launching services to four new destinations Abuja, Chicago, Oslo, and Brussels.

Emirates said in an e-mailed statement that it generated in the first half of the fiscal year 2014/2015 a net profit of 1.9 billion Dirham (514 million dollars), up percent from the same period last year.

The carrier continued to make a profit despite "unprecedented external challenges" which led the airline to suspend the highest number of routes (such as flights to Iraq or Ukraine) in a year and temporarily ground part of its fleet due to the runway closure and runway renovation at Dubai international airport.

Emirates' home airport at Dubai international underwent a partial renewal of its runways over an 80-days period from May 1 to July 20 which forced the Emirates to reduce flights to over 40 destinations and to write off one billion Dirham (272 million dollars) for that period.

Emirates which flies with 221 aircraft to 142 destinations said during the first six months of the fiscal year it received 13 wide- body aircraft, six Airbus A380s superjumbos, seven Boeing 777s, while 11 more new aircraft are scheduled to be delivered before the end of the financial year (31st March 2015).

Emirates flies to 146 destinations in 83 countries as of September 30, up from 137 cities in 77 countries last year. Emirates Airline president Tim Clark told Xinhua earlier last month he would like to increase the number of destinations in China where Emirates flies to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.