Emirates Airline is to receive a capital injection from Dubai to help it weather the COVID-19 crisis.
“The Government of Dubai is committed to fully supporting Emirates at this critical time and will inject equity into the company,” Hamdan bin Mohammed, chairman of the Executive Council of Dubai wrote on Twitter Mar. 31. “Emirates, our national carrier, positioned Dubai as a global travel hub and has great strategic value as one of the main pillars of Dubai’s economy, as well as the wider economy of the UAE. We will announce further details about the equity injection and more measures soon.”
The announcement from Dubai came two days after Qatar Airways CEO Akbar al-Baker told Reuters the airline had enough cash to continue operating for only a short period of time and would eventually need to seek support from its owner, the Qatar government.
UAE commercial passenger flights have been suspended since Mar. 25 until Apr. 7, following a decision by the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority.
“Until January 2020, the Emirates Group was doing well against our current financial year targets. But COVID-19 has brought all that to a sudden and painful halt over the past six weeks,” group chairman and CEO Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said Mar. 22.
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