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Emirates CEO says jet fuel costs ‘well hedged’ through 2029

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.

Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Beijing banned four New Zealand lawmakers from traveling to China for a year and demanded they apologize because they visited Taiwan on a parliamentary trip, according to a message from the Chinese embassy conveyed via parliamentary officials and shown to The Associated Press on Thursday. China has hit lawmakers from other countries with sanctions related to contact with Taiwan before, but it's the first time for New Zealand parliamentarians, the government in Wellington said. Beijing has been increasing pressure in recent years on the democratically governed island that it claims as its own territory. Two lawmakers reached by the AP on Thursday rejected the demand for an apology, while the other two could not be immediately reached. New Zealand's government said it would express concern about the travel bans to Beijing. The elected officials visited Taipei in May, as New Zealand parliamentarians have done “for decades,” a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
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