Emirates Airline, with its vast fleet of 271 wide-body aircraft, is the largest carrier in the Middle East and has huge strategic importance for Dubai and the United Arab Emirates.
Dubai said Tuesday it will support Emirates Airline with a capital injection to help the carrier through the Coronavirus crisis which has forced it to halt passenger flights.
“The Government of Dubai is committed to fully supporting @emirates at this critical time & will inject equity into the company,” the emirate’s Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum said on Twitter.
“@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.”
The statement did not give details about the size of the intervention but said more details will be announced later.
Emirates, which owns the world’s largest fleet of Airbus A-380 superjumbos with 113 in its ranks, grounded its passenger flights last week as the United Arab Emirates moved to contain the spread of the Coronavirus.
The carrier has cut costs by slashing between 25 percent and 50 percent from the basic salary of most of its 100,000-strong staff, saying the strategy was designed to avert layoffs.
