Australian carrier Qantas today roared back into the black in a stunning turnaround of fortunes driven by aggressive cost-cutting, while placing an order for eight Boeing Dreamliners. <\/p>\n
The airline posted a Aus dollar 557 million (USD 409 million) annual net profit in the year to June 30, a sharp recovery in the space of 12 months from an Aus dollar 2.84 billion net loss in the previous corresponding period. <\/p>\n
Underlying profit before tax – Qantas’ preferred measure of financial performance, which excludes one-off costs and write-downs — was Aus dollar 975 million, compared to a Aus dollar 646 million loss in 2014. <\/p>\n
Qantas said its cost-cutting programme had helped save Aus dollar 894 million over the year, while lower fuel prices also helped bolster the bottom line. <\/p>\n
No dividend was declared but the airline announced a one-off 23 cents per share capital return to shareholders, amounting to Aus dollar 505 million. <\/p>\n
Chief executive Alan Joyce said the purchase of the eight new planes signified the scale of the airline’s turnaround and signalled a new phase of growth. <\/p>\n
“We are halfway through the biggest and fastest transformation in our history,” he said. <\/p>\n
“Without that transformation, we would not be reporting this strong profit, recommencing shareholder returns, or announcing our ultra-efficient Dreamliner fleet. <\/p>\n
“We have reshaped our business for a strong, sustainable future – and because we moved quickly and made tough decisions early, we have strong foundations to build on.” <\/p>\n
The reversal in fortunes appeared to vindicate Joyce’s strategy to slash Aus dollar 2.0 billion in costs and axe 5,000 jobs to help counter a price war with domestic rival Virgin Australia. <\/p>\n
Qantas’ under-pressure international arm reported earnings of Aus dollar 267 million, a significant turnaround from the Aus dollar 497 million loss in the previous financial year, which it attributed to better revenues and cost-cutting. <\/p>\n
To build on the transformation, the company will buy eight new Dreamliners to gradually replace older Boeing 747s on international routes with delivery from calendar year 2017. <\/p>\n
“New aircraft types have always unlocked opportunities for Qantas,” Joyce said. <\/p>\n
“When our red tail Dreamliners start arriving in two years’ time, their incredible range and fuel efficiency will create new possibilities for our network.” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Australian carrier Qantas today roared back into the black in a stunning turnaround of fortunes driven by aggressive cost-cutting, while placing an order for eight Boeing Dreamliners. The airline posted a Aus dollar 557 million (USD 409 million) annual net profit in the year to June 30, a sharp recovery in the space of 12 months from an Aus dollar 2.84 billion net loss in the previous corresponding period. Underlying profit before tax – Qantas’ preferred measure of financial performance, which excludes one-off costs and write-downs — was Aus dollar 975 million, compared to a Aus dollar 646 million loss […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[229],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-civil-aviation"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/infralive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/infralive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/infralive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infralive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infralive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/infralive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29812\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/infralive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infralive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infralive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}