DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Dubai-based airline Emirates on Monday reported a record annual profit of 17.2 billion dirhams ($4.7 billion) for the 2023-2024 fiscal yr, up 63% from a yr earlier.

The flagship airline of the UAE's glittering business capital is having fun with a gentle recovery within the travel sector and is expanding its route network to fulfill booming demand.

The world's largest long-haul airline's latest figures are one of the best in its history and are “driven by the insatiable desire to travel across all customer segments,” Emirates Group said in a press release.

Emirates carried 51.9 million passengers within the 2023/24 financial yr, up 19% year-on-year, with reported seating capability increasing by 21%.

“The airline's revenue increased by 13% to 121.2 billion dirhams and the airline's capacity increased by 20%,” it said [the] Gap to pre-pandemic levels,” the statement said.

“Throughout the year, we experienced high demand for air transportation and travel-related services globally, and because we were able to respond quickly to meet customers’ needs, we achieved tremendous results,” said Emirates Chairman and CEO Sheikh Ahmed am Saeed Al Maktoum.

“We benefit from years of continuous investment in our products and services, in building strong partnerships and in the skills of our talented people.”

Emirates Group, which incorporates aviation, air services and ground handling company dnata, achieved its best financial performance ever with a record profit of 18.7 billion dirhams, up 71% from last yr.

The company also closed the financial yr with its highest ever money balance of 47.1 billion dirhams and declared a dividend of 4 billion dirhams for its owner, the Investment Corporation of Dubai.

The airline has no plans to slow its expansion any time soon; it has greater than 300 passenger aircraft to order.

Dubai's leaders recently approved a multi-billion-dollar plan to construct a brand new passenger terminal on the emirate's Al Maktoum International Airport, making it five times larger in area than Dubai's foremost international airport – and the most important on this planet.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — One of Boeing's largest customers called on its latest management team to act, voicing frustration over the American plane maker's safety crisis and resulting delays in delivering orders.

“We're not really happy with what's going on. We always wanted this aircraft to enter the fleet when it was promised – and there is a delay, not just for us,” Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman and CEO of Dubai's flagship airline Emirates, said Dan CNBC's Murphy at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai on Tuesday.

With 245 passenger aircraft and five 778 freighters on order, Emirates is Boeing's largest widebody customer. But the maker's aircraft deliveries fell to their lowest level since mid-2021 in the first quarter of 2024 as the company faces increased scrutiny after a door plug popped out in mid-air on one of its 737 Max 9 planes in January.

The company delivered 83 aircraft – most of them narrow-body 737s – in the three months ended March 31, compared with 157 in the previous quarter and 130 aircraft in the same period last year.

Al Maktoum, who leads the world's largest long-haul airline and co-founded it in 1985, shared the views of many other airline CEOs when it came to expectations for Boeing.

“I think they have to put a lot of pressure on to make sure they deliver to the customer what they promised,” he said.

Asked if he had a message for the aircraft maker, Al Maktoum said: “I always say: pull yourself together and just do it. And I think they can do it.”

CNBC has reached out to Boeing for comment.

The chairman didn’t indicate that Emirates would cancel the Boeing orders or shift them to its French rival. airbus.

“No, no – I can’t say exactly what we’re planning,” he said when asked about the likelihood of such a move. “But I think you see that we are overhauling a large number of aircraft within the existing fleet. … And there will be no shortage of capacity in Dubai.”

He cited the airline's expansion of part of its existing fleet, including the giant double-decker Airbus A380s, as helping to provide sufficient passenger capacity.

Boeing's recently appointed new management team is now tasked with tackling the company's worst crisis since 2018-2019, when two of its new 737 Max jets crashed within six months, killing 346 people.

After the door collapse at Alaska Airlines in January, the Federal Aviation Administration six-week audit of Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems “found multiple instances in which the companies allegedly failed to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements,” the FAA said in March. Spirit AeroSystems makes Boeing Max fuselages

“The FAA has found violations in Boeing’s control of its manufacturing process, parts handling and storage, and product inspection,” it said. The regulator said it informed Boeing's leadership that it “needs to contemplate the outcomes of the audit as a part of its comprehensive corrective motion plan to deal with systemic quality control issues and address its “safety culture.”

In an earlier statement cited by CNBC, a Boeing spokesperson said in response to the FAA findings that the corporate continues to “implement immediate changes and develop a comprehensive action plan to strengthen safety and quality.”

The company's website says it continues to support the U.S. NTSB and FAA investigations into the Jan. 5 accident.

The CEO of Emirates Airline sent a letter of apology to customers the next weekend Historic rainfall within the United Arab Emirates caused record-breaking flooding and chaos at Dubai airport.

Hundreds of flights needed to be canceled and 1000’s of consumers were stranded because of this.

“I would like to sincerely apologize to any customer whose travel plans were disrupted during this time,” company CEO Tim Clark wrote within the letter posted on the airline’s website Saturday.

“We know our response was far from perfect. We recognize and understand our customers' frustration due to congestion, lack of information and confusion in the terminals. We recognize that the long queues and waiting times were unacceptable.”

While the airline's service hub at Dubai Airport remained open, “flooded roads hindered the ability of our customers, pilots, cabin crew and airport staff to reach the airport, as well as the transportation of essential goods such as meals and other flight amenities,” Clark wrote.

He said that the airline diverted dozens of flights on Tuesday when the storm was at its worst and that “we had to cancel nearly 400 flights and delay many more over the next three days as our hub operations continued to be hit by staffing and supply shortages.” was challenged.”

Emirates issued a notice on Wednesday urging travelers not to come to the airport except in emergency situations. Additionally, check-ins for those scheduled to depart from Dubai were suspended, an embargo was placed on ticket sales, and connecting flights to Dubai from other cities were suspended, leaving some passengers stranded around the world.

Angry posts appeared on social media from customers saying they received no help from Emirates staff and could not contact anyone at the company.

“12 hours waiting for a canceled flight and 6 hours waiting at this counter with people passed out, arguing, attempting to keep their sanity and no communication from Emirates in anyway,” one Instagram user posted along with a photo showing a crowd outside Emirates shows screens at Dubai airport. The timestamp on the photo was Friday, 7:05 a.m.

Another traveler told CNBC on social media: “It took me 48 hours to get from London to Baghdad via Dubai. Five hours on the tarmac on the plane.” [in Dubai], for an hour there was no one there to open the gates of the aircraft bridge. I set out on my own… found a hotel and went back, waited 12 hours. I got on a flight and they served us almonds!”

Some people said they were stuck at the airport for more than 20 hours, and others stranded in foreign cities and connecting airports said they had to book their own trip home after failing to receive help from Emirates.

Clark said his employees did their best to deal with the unprecedented situation and that “whatever it takes is vital for 1000’s more employees across the corporate to get our operations back up and running.”

The CEO wrote that the airline “deployed over 100 volunteer staff to help distressed customers at Dubai Airport's departure point and within the transit area, prioritizing medical cases, the elderly and other vulnerable travelers.” He added that more than 12,000 Hotel rooms were provided for customers in Dubai and 250,000 meal vouchers were issued.

Emirates' regular flight schedules have been restored since Saturday. In the letter, Clark said the airline still has more than 30,000 bags to return to customers.

“We have put together a task force to sort, reconcile and deliver around 30,000 pieces of abandoned baggage to their owners,” he said, adding that it will “take a few more days to clear the backlog of rebooked passengers and bags. “ “and ask for customers’ “patience and understanding.”

Clark concluded by promising to improve the airline's processes, thanking his employees for their work and apologizing “to each customer affected by this disruption.”