Amid shifting global economic forces, political change, and security issues, Emirates, the Dubai-based airline that consistently ranks near the top of our Readers' Choice Awards, is feeling the squeeze. As an annual report from the Emirates Group reveals, profits for the airline dropped by 82 percent over the past fiscal year, from $1.9 billion in 2015 to $340 million in 2016, a change the airline attributes to forces beyond its control, including a number of Trump administration policies placing restrictions on travel from the Middle East.

The Emirates Group—which runs the airline and dnata, a ground services provider—still posted an overall profit this year of $670 million, but as Reuters reports, it's the first year-over-year decline in the past five years. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, a member of Dubai's ruling family and the CEO and chairman of Emirates Group, attributes the 70 percent drop in overall profits to a number of global events, but in a press release shared with Condé Nast Traveler, says prior success fueled the company's resilience: "We now reap the benefits as these strong foundations have helped us to weather the destabilizing events, which have impacted travel demand during the year—from the Brexit vote to Europe's immigration challenges and terror attacks, from the new policies impacting air travel into the U.S., to currency devaluation." Al Maktoum also points to the effect of a "sluggish" oil and gas industry on overall business confidence.

Of course, the "new policies" Al Maktoum references include President Trump's travel ban for citizens of six Muslim-majority countries and, perhaps most significantly, a March DHS regulation that bans passengers flying from eight Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East and North Africa, including the U.A.E., from carrying large electronics in their carry-ons.

Emirates, which was on an aggressive push to expand offerings to the United States, quickly reacted to the electronics ban, offering free loaner laptops to all passengers on Dubai-U.S. routes, but it apparently wasn't enough. Last month, the airline cut the frequency of five of its 12 U.S. routes. At the time, an Emirates spokesperson told Condé Nast Traveler the move was motivated by a dip in demand: "The recent actions taken by the U.S. government relating to the issuance of entry visas, heightened security vetting, and restrictions on electronic devices in aircraft cabins, have had a direct impact on consumer interest and demand for air travel into the U.S.," they said.

While the electronics ban did not impact U.S. airlines, which do not operate direct flights out of the affected regions, a rumored expansion of that ban to include flights from Europe would extend to domestic carriers—but how that would affect their profits remains to be seen.