Emirates, Dubai's flagship airline, reported an 8 per cent growth in first half net profit on Wednesday despite being impacted by ebola concerns, regional conflicts and runway upgrades at its home base.

The world's fourth-largest carrier of international passengers posted a profit of Dh1.9 billion ($517.3 million) for the six months ending September 30, up from Dh1.7 billion ($462.7 million) a year earlier, it said in a statement.

Emirates, the world's biggest customer of the Airbus A380 superjumbo, said profit for the wider group, which includes airline services arm Dnata, rose 1.1 per cent to Dh2.2 billion ($598.7 million).

Emirates airline revenue grew 11 per cent to Dh44.2 billion ($12.03 billion), while the group's revenue rose 12.3 per cent to Dh47.5 billion ($12.93 billion).

"As the biggest operator at Dubai International, we also took the biggest hit to our bottom line from the 80-day runway upgrading works. However, we had anticipated it and made meticulous plans to minimise impact operationally and commercially for both Emirates and dnata. The success of these plans can be seen in our overall growth during this six-month period in spite of the challenge,” said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman and chief executive, Emirates Airline and Group.

He added: “It is those external threats that we cannot anticipate or directly manage, such as the global economic malaise, the Ebola outbreak, currency fluctuations, and regional conflicts, that could negate our efforts and plans. These issues appear to be piling up, impacting commercial aviation and travel, but show no signs of speedy resolution.  Therefore it is critical that we stay agile as we grow. The ability to adapt and act quickly will determine our continued success. Moving forward, we will keep a watchful eye on these challenges, but continue to focus on our long-term goals and invest in the infrastructure of both Emirates and dnata.”

In the past six months, the group expanded its employee base, increasing its overall staff count by 5 per cent to over 79,000 compared with March 31, 2014.

During the first six months of the fiscal year, Emirates received 13 wide-body aircraft – six A380s, seven Boeing 777s -- and 11 new aircraft are scheduled to be delivered before the end of the financial year.

Emirates flies to 146 destinations in 83 countries (as of September 30), up from 137 cities in 77 countries last year.

On average, fuel prices only softened marginally and towards the end of the six-month period. Fuel remained a large component of the airline’s cost, accounting for 38 per cent of operating costs compared with 39 per cent during the first six-month period last year, the group said.

Emirates reported continued business growth, both in terms of capacity on offer and traffic carried. Capacity measured in available seat kilometres (ASK) grew by 6.5 per cent, while passenger traffic carried measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) was up 9.8 per cent with passenger seat factor increasing and averaging at 81.5 per cent, compared with last year’s 79.2 per cent.

Emirates carried 23.3 million passengers between April 1 and September 30, 2014, up 8.4 per cent from the same period last year. The volume of cargo uplifted was up 5.4 per cent, a remarkable growth and performance against the market trend. - Reuters and TradeArabia News Service