Pre-tax full year loss of $1.19 billion comes amid “strong recovery underway”.
Qantas has just announced a $1.19 billion loss for the 12 months to 30 June, with the figure including a $686 million net gain on the sale of surplus land.
The company said its third major pre-tax loss reflected the impact of the Delta and Omicron variants of COVID-19, as well as upfront costs from restarting operations as lockdowns finally ended.
Group domestic operations were profitable at the Underlying EBIT level in the fourth quarter of 2022, while the result also saw the acceleration of Qantas Freight and Qantas Loyalty which both improved their results.
Net debt has fallen from a high of over $6.4 billion to $3.9 billion at the end of FY22, with the carrier saying “with the existential crisis posed by the pandemic now over, the Group is focused on responding to current operational challenges”.
CEO Alan Joyce said the overall impact of COVID on the group was now almost $7 billion. However “we always knew travel demand would recover strongly, but the speed and scale of that recovery has been exceptional,” he said.
The carrier has also announced the introduction of a new non-stop route between Auckland and New York effective from Jun 2023, timed to offer convenient connections to QF flights between Australia and NZ.
Other investments in customer experience include the creation of a new Business Lounge in Adelaide, an upgrade of the QF Auckland Lounge, and expansion of lounge facilities in Port Hedland and Rockhampton.
More details in today’s issue of Travel Daily.