Emirates Group has said revenues for the first six months of 2017-18 financial year rose 6 per cent to 49.4 billion dirhams ($13.5 billion) from 46.5 billion dirhams ($12.7 billion) in the same period last year. Net income increased to 2.3 billion dirhams ($631 million) in the six months ended Sept. 30 with a 77 percent boost in net profits. This result was driven by capacity optimisation and efficiency initiatives across the company, steady business growth, and a more favorable foreign exchange situation compared to the same period last year, the Dubai-based company said in its statement Thursday. The Group’s cash position on Sept. 30 was at 18.9 billion dirhams ($5.2 billion), compared to 19.1 billion dirhams ($5.2 billion) on March 31. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group said: “A lot of the credit for our 2017-18 half-year results goes to our talented workforce who have worked hard to improve our business performance, and address our challenges without compromising on quality and service. “Our margins continue to face strong downward pressure from increased competition, oil prices have risen, and we still face weak economic and uncertain political realities in many parts of the world. Yet, the Group has improved revenue and profit performance. This speaks to the resilience of our business model, and the agility of our people. “The easing of the strong US dollar against other major currencies helped our profitability. We are also seeing the benefit from various initiatives across the company to enhance our capability and efficiency with new technologies and new ways of working.  Moving forward, we will continue to keep a careful eye on costs while investing to grow our business and provide our customers with world-class products and services.” During the first six months of 2017-18, Emirates received 10 wide-body aircraft – 4 Airbus A380s, and 6 Boeing 777s, with 9 more new aircraft scheduled to be delivered before the end of the financial year. It also retired 5 older aircraft from its fleet with further 4 to be returned by March 31, 2018, the company said in its statement. Emirates launched two new passenger services in the first six months of its financial year - to Zagreb (Croatia) and Phnom Penh (Cambodia).  As of Sept. 30, Emirates’ global network spanned 156 destinations in 84 countries. Its fleet stood at 264 aircraft including freighters, said the statement. Emirates carried 29.2 million passengers between April 1 and Sept. 30, up 4 percent from the same period last year. The volume of cargo uplifted at 1.3 million tons is up 5 percent while yield improved by 8 percent. This solid performance speaks to Emirates SkyCargo’s recent investments in products and services tailored to key sectors, and is also a positive sign of a gradual recovery in the global air freight market, it added.