Carrier defers delivery of Airbus A320neo aircraft.
Qantas has just announced its results for the six months to 31 December 2016, with the company’s statutory after-tax profit down 25% year-on-year, mainly due to $137 million in restructuring costs associated with the ongoing Qantas Transformation Program.
The underlying profit before tax was $852 million, down $69 million, with the company saying this delivered a Group Return on Invested Capital of 21.7%.
Key strategic highlights during the half included targeted capacity adjustments resulting in stable margins across the domestic operations, and record earnings for the Jetstar Group and Qantas Loyalty.
Total revenue and other income for the period was $8.184 billion, down 3.3% compared to the previous corresponding period. All parts of the group were profitable, with ceo Alan Joyce saying Qantas was one of the best performing airlines in the world.
“Qantas and Jetstar’s domestic operations produced an outstanding result and Qantas Loyalty continued to thrive. It’s a combination that keeps delivering and set us apart from our competitors,” he said.
“The international market is tough because of capacity growth and lower fares, and Qantas International is not immune from those pressures. But the work we’ve done on removing costs and making the business more efficient means Qantas International is outperforming its peers in the region,” Joyce added.
Qantas will also today unveil details of the premium economy cabin in its new Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, and Joyce confirmed successful test flights this month mean the airline expects to operate its first commercial service with free in-flight wi-fi in the next few weeks.
Joyce also said Qantas would defer delivery of Jetstar’s first Airbus A320neo aircraft until the 2019 financial year, as the airlines “continue to adapt their fleet plans in response to market conditions and expectations”.
More details in today’s issue of Travel Daily.