Coronavirus: Emirates posts $3.4 bln half-year loss amid COVID-19 pandemic

Emirates lost $3.4 billion in the first six months of the year, tipping the Dubai state-owned airline's holding company into its first half-year loss in more than thirty years.

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The carrier, which temporarily suspended operations this year at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, said global flight and travel restrictions meant revenue dropped 75 percent to $3.2 billion as passenger traffic fell 95 percent to 1.5 million.

Emirates Group, which includes the airline, said its workforce had shrunk by 24 percent to 81,334 staff as of September 30.

The airline confirmed it had received $2 billion in financial assistance from the government of Dubai as an equity investment.

Emirates had reported an 862 million dirham profit for the first half of the previous year.

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