FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Emirates airline group has hedged its exposure to higher jet fuel prices for the next three years and has secured enough supply to meet current and future needs, its CEO said Thursday as the company reported record annual profit.
“From a fuel perspective, Emirates is well-hedged until 2028-29; and we have worked with our suppliers to secure the volumes required to support our current operations and our scaling up to predisruption levels,” Chairman and Chief Executive Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said in a statement accompanying the company's 2025-2026 earnings statement.
Airlines have been sticker-shocked by higher fuel prices and face concerns about shortages due to Iran's blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world's oil normally passes. Some airlines including Air France KLM, SAS and Lufthansa have responded by dropping flights from their summer schedules.
Hedging means using financial instruments such as forward contracts to lock in prices for future deliveries.
For the financial year ended March 31, Emirates Group reported profit before tax of 24.4 billion dirham ($6.6 billion), up 7% from the previous year, on revenue of 150.5 billion dirham ($41.0) billion, up 3% on the previous financial year.
FILE -- In this March 22, 2017 file photo, an Emirates plane taxis to a gate at Dubai International Airport at Dubai International Airport in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Adam Schreck, File)
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s military warned Thursday it would respond strongly against any attack as it marked the anniversary of last year’s four-day conflict with neighboring India that brought the nuclear-armed rivals to the brink of war before a U.S.-brokered ceasefire halted the fighting.
The military said that any “hostile design” against Pakistan would be countered with “greater strength, precision and resolve” than what India witnessed during the May 2025 conflict, which Islamabad named “Marka-e-Haq,” or “Battle of Truth.”
Pakistan and India had exchanged tit-for-tat strikes following an attack by gunmen in the Indian-controlled part of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir that killed 26 people, most of them Hindu tourists. India blamed Pakistan-backed militants for the massacre in the town of Pahalgam, an allegation Islamabad denied while calling for an independent investigation.
India launched strikes inside Pakistan on May 7, triggering retaliatory attacks by Pakistan that included drone incursions, missile strikes and artillery fire. Dozens of people were killed on both sides before a ceasefire was reached on May 10 following U.S. mediation.
Pakistan at the time claimed it shot down at least seven Indian military aircraft, including a French-made Rafale fighter jet. India acknowledged suffering some losses but did not provide details.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly taken the credit for helping avert a wider war.
Speaking at a televised news conference, army spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry said India had blamed Pakistan for the attack on tourists in Kashmir within minutes of the shooting without presenting evidence.
“It has been one year since the Pahalgam incident, yet the questions Pakistan raised remain unanswered,” he said. Chaudhry said Pakistan did not underestimate India’s military capability but was fully prepared to respond to any “misadventure.”
“We are prepared; if anyone wishes to test us, they are more than welcome,” he said alongside Deputy Chief of Naval Staff Rear Adm. Shifaat Ali and Deputy Chief of Air Staff (Projects) Air Vice Marshal Tariq Ghazi. However, Chaudhry added: “We are not seeking conflict, we are not seeking war. But we know how to defend ourselves with honor and dignity.”
Ali said the Indian navy had attempted to deploy vessels in the northern Arabian Sea during the fighting in an effort to target Pakistan’s naval assets and disrupt maritime trade routes. “But due to the effective strategy of the Pakistan Navy, maritime traffic in all our waterways remained uninterrupted,” he said.
At Thursday’s briefing, Ghazi said Pakistan had downed eight Indian fighter jets during the conflict. He added that Pakistan had exercised restraint and that its air force had the capability to inflict greater damage on the enemy.
Pakistan and India have long had strained relations and have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, which is claimed by both in its entirety.
FILE - Army soldiers stand guard at a mosque building damaged by a suspected Indian missile attack near Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan controlled Kashmir, on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/M.D. Mughal, File)
