Emirates Group, the parent company of Emirates Airline, saw its profits plummet 64 percent to $364 million in the first half of its fiscal 2016-17 owing to a strong US dollar and challenging operating environment for the airline and travel business.

Between April and September, Emirates Group, which also owns Dnata, an aviation services company

providing ground handling services at 17 airports, logged in $12.7 billion in revenue, up 1.6 percent from a year earlier.

"Our performance for the first half of 2016-17 continues to be impacted by the strong US dollar against other major currencies,” said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman and chief executive of Dubaibased Emirates Airline and Group, in a statement.

Increased competition as well as

sustained economic and political uncertainty in many parts of the world has added downward pressure on prices as well as dampened travel demand, he added.

Emirates Airline, the world's biggest airline by international traffic, recorded net profit of $214 million during the period, down 75 percent year-on-year.

It carried 28 million passengers between April and September, up 9 percent from a year earlier.