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Emirates airlines profit up 43%

Emirates airlines, the largest Middle East carrier, says it posted a 43 per cent surge in profit to $US887 million ($A959.70 million) last year as fuel costs dropped and passenger numbers rose.

Net profit in 2013 hit 3.3 billion dirhams ($US887 million) compared to 2.3 billion dirhams ($US622 million) the previous year, the company announced.

Fuel costs dropped by around four per cent, Emirates chief Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum told reporters, while passenger numbers increased 13 per cent.

The carrier’s revenues increased 13 per cent to 82.6 billion dirhams ($22.5 billion).

“It has been a good year,” sheikh Ahmed said.

The government-owned carrier transported a record 44.5 million passengers last year, compared to 39.4 million the previous year.

Emirates Group as a whole, which includes Dnata travel services, saw revenues rise 13.2 per cent to 87.8 billion dirhams ($US23.9 billion), with profit surging 31.6 per cent to 4.1 billion ($US1.1 billion).

The group will give a dividend of one billion dirhams ($US280 million) to its indebted government “similar to the last financial year,” it said.

Emirates market in East Asia and Australasia remained its highest revenue contributor, with $US6.5 billion, 14 per cent up from last year.

The Dubai-based airline leads Gulf major carriers in expanding their share on the route between the West and Asia and Australasia, triggering repeated complaints from legacy carriers which complain over a tough competition with the state-owned airlines.

Emirates fleet also increased to 217 planes from 197 in 2012-2013.

It is the largest single operator of Airbus’ superjumbo A380, and Boeing’s 777 long-haul airliner.

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