News
Qantas annual loss narrows to US$1.3 billion amid "diabolical" trading conditions
August 26th 2021
Australia's Qantas today reported a net loss of A$1.7 billion (US$1.3 billion) for the 12 months to June 30, a $236 million improvement from a $2 billion net loss in the 2019-20 financial year. Read More » Revenue fell 58.4%, to A$5.9 billion, Qantas said in a regulatory filing to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). Operating costs, excluding fuel, declined by 48.6% to A$4.6 billion. "This loss shows the impact that a full year of closed international borders and more than 330 days of domestic travel restrictions had on the national carrier. The trading conditions have frankly been diabolical," Qantas Group CEO, Alan Joyce, said. “Despite the uncertainty still in front of us, we are in a far better position to manage it than this time last year”. Qantas's 2020-2021 revenue was 67% below the $18 billion recorded for 2018-2019, the last full financial year before the coronavirus pandemic."
Qantas plans to restart some international travel between Australia and "COVID-safe destinations" from mid-December, when 80% of Australians aged 16 years and over are expected to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The airline also is considering switching its nonstop Perth-London Heathrow flights to Darwin-London Heathrow "given conservative border policies in Western Australia". Qantas intends to return five A380s to service by mid-2022, a year ahead of schedule, for its nonstop services to Los Angeles and to London via Singapore. Two A380s will be retired, leaving the carrier's A380 fleet at 10 aircraft. The oneworld alliance member is making technical changes to its A330-200s to enable the type to operate nonstop flights from Brisbane to Los Angeles and San Francisco. “It’s obviously up to government exactly how and when our international borders re-open, but with Australia on track to meet the 80% trigger agreed by the [Australian] National Cabinet by the end of the year, we need to plan ahead for what is a complex restart process," Joyce said.
