The Dubai-based airline Emirates may become a publicly-traded company. Sir Tim Clark, President, Emirates at the Dubai Airshow 2021, said that that it could happen as the city-state tries to boost its local financial market while promising that its fleet of iconic double-decker jumbo jets would soon fly the skies again. This comes after Dudai announced plans to list its state-owned electricity company and other government-backed firms to raise liquidity and expand the local Dubai Financial Market so it can compete with bigger counterparts in the region.

Following the news that Dubai-based airline Emirates could be included in plans to issue initial public offerings (IPOs) on the city’s stock market, Neha Bhatia, Construction & Infrastructure Editor at GlobalData’s MEED, said that Emirates appears to be on the path to recovery, and the airline’s potential listing could further buoy optimism around its post-pandemic growth prospects. “Emirates’ listing – should it proceed – could restore confidence in the airline’s financial position and reiterate its reputation as Dubai’s most valuable asset. However, the company’s significance to the local economy has already been established over the past two years. The contributions could pay dividends as the airline looks to secure post-pandemic growth,” she said.

Net losses of Emirates in April to September narrowed to AED5.7 billion from AED14.1 billion in the first half of 2020-21. The half-year loss in 2020 was Emirates’ first in more than 30 years, and, after having largely weathered the global financial crisis of 2008-10 and the oil price crash of 2014-16, the airline laid off around 30,585 staff in 2020-21.

Emirates received a capital injection worth over AED11 billion from the Investment Corporation of Dubai – the city’s sovereign wealth fund and its ultimate owner – to sustain its operations in the 2020-21 financial year. It was a pivotal development for Emirates, which has historically provided a dividend to the wealth fund. The wealth fund injected a further AED2.5 billion in Emirates during the first half of 2021-22.