Originally Posted by subject2load

DYKWIA - I suspect you will wait a long time for such proof.

It's a very common myth amongst many travellers with limited/zero first-hand experience of Emirates, and the part of the world in which they are based, that the airline is heavily subsidised - or even totally state-funded. I think the myth gets peddled around as the result of a misguided belief that it must be, surely ....I mean ...... with all that money they've got out there .......

My own understanding, having previously spent some years living in the region, is that in the early days of its inception & initial development, the airline did indeed receive significant 'state support'. However, the intention all along was that it would stand on its own feet, and the clearest indication that the transition to a conventional commercial operation had been successfully completed was the first publication (can't quote the actual year) of fully-audited company accounts & reports, a practice which of course has continued ever since. State-run industries are not in the habit of providing Annual Reports for public consumption .....!

One qualification I would add - and this more by way of an educated assumption than any sort of 'inside knowledge' - is that if by chance EK ever got itself into serious, 'life-threatening' difficulties, then those holding the reins of power in Dubai would not wish to see their flag carrier fail. Given the airline's ongoing level of success, such protection seems unlikely to be needed ; but I'd bet my mortgage that it would be there.