Dubai-based Emirates airline on Tuesday posted a $5.5 billion (€4.5bn) annual loss, its first in more than three decades, after the coronavirus pandemic devastated the aviation industry.

“Due to ongoing pandemic-related flight and travel restrictions, the airline reported a loss of 20.3 billion dirhams ($5.5bn) after last year’s 1.1 billion dirhams ($288 million) profit,” the Middle East’s largest carrier said in a statement.

The airline, which was forced to temporarily suspend operations last year, saw revenue fall 66 per cent to $8.4 billion. Over the fiscal year, which ends in March, Emirates carried 6.6 million passengers, down 88 per cent from the same period in the previous year.

“The COVID-19 pandemic continues to take a tremendous toll on human lives, communities, economies, and on the aviation and travel industry,” the airline’s chairman and chief executive, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, said in a statement.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to take a tremendous toll on human lives, communities, economies, and on the aviation and travel industry- Emirates chairman and chief executive, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum

He added that the Emirates group was “hit hard by the drop in demand for international air travel as countries closed their borders and imposed stringent travel restrictions”.

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