Emirates has announced a bumper profit-sharing bonus for directly employed staff, with most workers set to receive 24 weeks’ worth of basic pay.
This is the first time since 2018 that Emirates has paid an annual performance bonus, and it comes after the Dubai-based airline reported its best-ever financial results with a profit of $2.9 billion for 2022-23.
Emirates Group chairman and chief executive Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said on Thursday that the airline had made a “full recovery” after travel demand bounced back as pandemic-era restrictions were lifted.
The airline business went from a loss of $1.1 billion in the previous financial year to a record profit of $2.9 billion in 2022-23, which was helped by high yields and an above-average load factor.
The decision to pay a massive bonus worth 24 weeks salary to all Emirates employees has been praised by workers following several years of tightened purse strings at the airline.
Even before the pandemic, in 2019, Emirates froze wages and even paused incremental seniority-based pay rises after reporting a disappointing set of financial results for 2018-19.
Staffers haven’t received a bonus since 2018, and the airline experienced thousands of layoffs through the pandemic. Although the airline never confirmed exactly how many employees were laid off at the height of the pandemic, sources claimed that a third of the airline’s workforce had been at risk of losing their jobs.
