Emirates Group's dnata is bullish on its profit outlook, with its global operations cushioning it from the disruption of the Iran war as the business targets growth in emerging markets, wins new contracts and records a rebound in travel bookings.
The airport and travel services company operates in 37 countries and 160 cities.
"The biggest advantage we have as dnata is we're quite a diversified business, we're not just in the UAE. Almost 70 per cent of our business is global," Nabil Sultan Al Murr, dnata's chief executive, told The National. "That gives us the diversity of making sure that if any of those markets get impacted, we have the ability to switch and activate a lot of other markets, which almost come to the rescue."
Dnata's profit outlook for the current financial year is positive, Mr Al Murr said. "The outlook looks quite good, quite healthy, and hopefully we'll surprise the world with our performance. It's going to look great," he added.
Founded in 1959, dnata is a unit of the Emirates Group. Dnata's operations include providing airlines with catering, baggage handling and air cargo services. It also runs companies that sell holiday packages and provide retail and travel booking services.
Dnata's profit after tax in the financial year ended March 31 reached Dh1.3 billion ($367 million), a 4 per cent decrease, mainly due to a higher UAE tax rate applied in 2025-2026, according to Emirates Group's annual report in May. Revenue rose 12 per cent to Dh23.6 billion, boosted by more flights and travel in its major markets of Australia, Europe, the UAE, the UK and the US.
The Iran war disrupted air travel this year, driving up fuel prices and causing flight delays, cancellations and diversions across the Middle East and beyond.
Dnata recorded a 30 to 35 per cent drop in inbound leisure travel bookings in April, mainly from Europe, Asia and the US, while leisure traffic from West Asia, Africa and the Middle East continued to flow, Mr Al Murr said. Corporate travel bookings to the region began improving in August and September with the return of employees from financial institutions, consultancy firms and investment companies, he added.
"That traffic is definitely back again very slowly," he added.
Bookings are already showing signs of a recovery in travel demand during the fourth quarter of 2026, especially with some European carriers such as Lufthansa planning to resume flights to Dubai in winter, he said.
"We've seen a huge rebound in future bookings ... Q4 looks promising, especially in November where hotel occupancy rates start to reach 70 to 80 per cent, especially for the resorts."
Travel bookings for October and November have increased 5 per cent year-on-year, marking a "really good indication" of the recovery, while customer spending on hotels, car hire and F&B increased 10 per cent, he said.
Corporate travel is expected to recover faster than demand for holidays, according to airline, hotel and tour agency executives at the Arabian Travel Market held in Dubai this week. They had high hopes for improving inbound travel demand in the last three months of the year as the UAE hosts dozens of major events, the weather gets cooler, and better deals are offered across the city.
Visits by family and friends of expatriates in the UAE, along with government campaigns showcasing the safety of the destination, are helping to stimulate demand from international source markets, Mr Al Murr said.
"This is not the first time we've had conflicts in this part of the world, and we've seen how demand rebounded very quickly as soon as things have normalised," he said. "I do believe this is a temporary blip. Once all this is behind us, you will see that revenge travel come back strongly."
Business should start returning to pre-war levels by the first quarter of 2027, he said.
Growth opportunities
Dnata is also leveraging its global operations across its business units, winning new contracts worldwide over the past 12 months and expanding its services to 28 airports in the US and 29 in Brazil, Mr Al Murr said.
He took the helm on June 15 after serving in leadership positions at Emirates SkyCargo and Emirates airline since joining the group in 1990.
The company also signed a joint venture with Azerbaijan’s Silk Way Group to establish ground handling and cargo operations at the country's new hub, Alat International Airport, in the Alat Free Economic Zone in Baku, with the new terminal opening in April 2027.
"We continue to win new business and new accounts to grow the pie," he said. "The future looks quite incredible in terms of new opportunities."
The next wave of growth will be in emerging markets in Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and India.
"These are markets in our catchment area, and we have excellent relationships on the government level," he said. "A lot of these countries have reached out to authorities in Dubai wanting an operator like dnata to come in and provide services at their airport."
In the Middle East, Mr Al Murr sees expansion potential in Syria, Libya and Iraq, where dnata already has operations in Erbil. The company was part of a government delegation to Syria to assess opportunities in Damascus, where it is evaluating airport infrastructure and safety and security requirements.
Continued economic resilience and improvements in safety in the three countries are a "big indicator" for dnata to take the initial steps, he said.
Dnata has not reduced its workforce over the past seven months of the war, despite fewer aircraft movements during the disruption, and is planning to hire more people as it grows its global operations. "We're on a hiring spree again ... preparing the way for what's coming," Mr Al Murr said.
