* 2012 profit 2.3 bln dirhams vs 1.5 bln dirhams yr-ago

* Full-year revenue 73.1 bln dirhams, up 17 pct

* Fuel costs up 15 pct in 2012 over previous year

(Adds details, chairman comments)

DUBAI, May 9 (Reuters) - Dubai's Emirates EMIRA.UL airline defied aviation gloom by lifting 2012 net profit by over a half as it added more planes and attracted extra passengers through its home hub in the Gulf.

The world's fourth largest carrier in terms of international passengers boosted profit to 2.3 billion dirhams ($622 million), up 52 percent compared with 2011.

The profit rise at the world's largest customer of the Airbus EAD.PA A380 superjumbo was in sharp contrast to the first-quarter operating loss at Franco-Dutch airline Air France-KLM AIRF.PA and a bigger than expected loss at Germany's Lufthansa LHAG.DE . ID:nL6N0DK0DP ID:nL6N0DJ0LQ

Emirates is betting that its location - a third of the world's population is within a four-hour flight - will continue to attract passengers away from other global hubs such as London, New York and Singapore.

"Our strategy for growth has reaped high benefits this past financial year, which has been our strongest ever in relationship to capacity growth," said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Emirates.

Emirates entered a 10-year alliance with Qantas Airways

QAN.AX in September, which included switching Qantas' hub to Dubai from Singapore for European flights. ID:nL6E8K6JMJ

The Gulf airline, which received 34 new aircraft in 2012, said profit for the wider Emirates Group was 3.1 billion dirhams, including airline services arm, Dnata.

Its fuel bill increased by 15 percent over last year to 27.9 billion dirhams.

The airline, which launched in 1985, flies to 133 destinations and carried 39 million passengers last year.

(Reporting by Praveen Menon; Editing by Dinesh Nair)

((praveen.menon@thomsonreuters.com)(+971 4 3625835)(Reuters Messaging: praveen.menon.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: EMIRATES AIRLINE/RESULTS