This week it has been announced that the Australian carrier, Qantas Group, has scored a profitable first half of their 2023 financial year.
This article will delve into the details of the carrier’s profitable first half as well as outline some of the key aspects that the group is pushing to achieve throughout the remainder of the year.
Qantas Group H1 FY23 Profit
Setting Qantas Group’s 2023 to a really good position, the group has achieved a significant profit, showing signs that the Australian aviation sector is well-underway to recovering from the globally affecting Covid pandemic.
The group has achieved an underlying profit before tax of $1.43 billion coupled with a statutory profit after tax of $1 billion. This is a massive improvement for the Australian carrier group as over the past few years due to the Covid pandemic they have suffered a total of $7 billion in losses.
Qantas’ profit this time round is a staggering 49% higher than what the group achieved during the first half of FY18 (pre-pandemic).
Given the profit that the group has achieved, its net debt has now dropped to $2.4 billion with its $1 billion Covid recovery plan still being on track for completion by the end of their 2023 financial year.
Showing their staff some love, Qantas Group has issued 20,000 non-executive staff members with $500 worth of travel credit as well as bolstering up their recovery bonuses to now up to $11,500 each in both cash and shares.
Future Investments
Recently, the Qantas Group have been on a bit of a spending spree with not only just revealing their Project Sunrise first and business classes on their incoming Airbus A350s, but also the group will be heavily investing to improve their customer experience for both the short and long term.
The group recently announced that they’ll be carrying out a $100 million expansion of both their domestic and international lounges over the next three years, as well as opening three additional new lounges during 2023 alone.
The Frequent Flyer Classic Reward seats on international services will be upped by 50% until the end of 2023.
Coupled with the recent announcement of converting more options for their inbound Airbus A220s, the group will continue the renewal of both Qantas and Jetstar fleets, with new in-flight entertainment, upgraded customer apps, and improvements to their catering.
During 2023, Qantas will also start these four new international routes –
- Auckland to New York.
- Sydney to Seoul in South Korea.
- Melbourne to Dallas, Texas.
- Sydney to Rarotonga.
Executive Comments
Talking about the group’s profitable first half of 2023, Chief Executive Officer, Alan Joyce, has said, “This is a huge turnaround considering the massive losses we were facing just 12 months ago.”
“When we restructured the business at the start of COVID, it was to make sure we could bounce back quickly when travel returned.”
“That’s effectively what’s happened, but it’s the strength of the demand that has driven such a strong result. Fares have risen because of higher fuel costs, but also because supply chain and resourcing issues meant capacity hasn’t kept up with demand.”
“Now those challenges are starting to unwind, we can add more capacity and that will put downward pressure on fares. In terms of overheads, we expect the costs we’re carrying from the extra operational buffer will start unwinding from this half and into next financial year.”
“Our people have been absolutely central to our recovery and that’s why we’re so pleased to be in a position to reward them with up to $11,500 in cash and shares, and why we’ve given them another $500 staff travel credit today.”
“Returning to profit means we can get back to reinvesting for our customers, which is clear from the network, fleet, and lounge announcements we’ve made, and from the Project Sunrise cabins we’re previewing. Importantly for our investors, this also sets us up to deliver long-term shareholder value.”
Overall
Qantas Group is so far having a much better year this time round, after suffering heavy losses over the past few years, this is a new chapter for the Australian airline group.
With Project Sunrise beginning to come back in full swing, we should start to see an upwards turn for the Qantas Group with a much brighter future ahead of them.
