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- Qantas Airways has announced a statutory net profit of $891 million, which is down from $953 million last year
- Underlying profit was $1.30 billion, a 17 per cent loss
- The company said it was impacted by a $614 million fuel increase, due to higher oil costs
Qantas Airways has announced a statutory net profit of $891 million, which is down from $953 million last year.
Its underlying profit was $1.30 billion, which is down 17 per cent since last year.
The company says it was impacted by an $614 million increase in fuel costs, due to higher oil prices. The lower Australian dollar effected the company a further $150 million.
Qantas said the result was also impacted by a $92 million non-cash expense on provisions items, which includes employee leave entitlements. This charge increases when the interest rates fall.
CEO Alan Joyce remains positive given the mixed market conditions.
“This result shows the strength of our individual businesses, but also the strength of our portfolio as a whole. Even with headwinds like fuel costs and foreign exchange, we remain one of the best performing airline groups in the world,” he said.
Qantas is regarded as the world’s leading long distance airlines, and one of the strongest brands in Australia.
Profit from its domestic operations, its biggest earner, was down 3.3 per cent due to Qantas cutting seat capacity on its domestic routes.
International operations dropped 28 per cent, even with a significant improvement in the second half of the year.
“Qantas International has improved its competitive position by evolving its fleet, network and partnerships. We’ve carved out some unique advantages like the Perth-London route and there is a lot of value still to be unlocked through our alliances,” Alan said.
Over the past year, Qantas has created its longest flight from Perth to London which is 17 hours. It also hosted a world-first plastic- free flight from Sydney to Adelaide.
By the end of the year, Qantas will be operating non-stop flights to New York and London from Sydney. It is refurbishing 12 Airbus A380 aircrafts, upgrading each class of cabin.
Qantas is also cutting 100 million single-use plastics by the end of 2020 and eliminating 75 per cent of waste to landfill by the end of 2021.
