Qantas says pandemic ‘existential crisis’ over despite losses
Qantas, Australia’s flagship airline, has said the “existential crisis” posed by the pandemic is over despite posting losses for the third consecutive year.
Compared to 2021, the Australian airline widened its underlying loss before tax to 1.86bn Australian dollars (£1.1bn) due to the closure of Australia’s borders and uncertainty over the Delta and Omicron variants.
The results took the overall statutory loss before tax experienced by the company since the pandemic to a staggering A$7bn.
“These figures are staggering and getting through to the other side has obviously been tough,” said chief executive Alan Joyce.
Despite the losses, Qantas managed to lower its net debt to A$3.94bn, below the optimal target, as travel demand soared in the fourth quarter of the financial year.
“We always knew travel demand would recover strongly but the speed and scale of that recovery has been exceptional,” he added.
Following the reopening of borders after two years of inactivity, both domestic and international flying levels increased significantly.
By 30 June, demand for domestic travel surged to 103 per cent, while international travel went to 49 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.
The airline said it was entering FY23 with “a clear path to improving its Covid-related operational challenge,” as it forecast to post $1bn in annual cost reduction as well as to deliver the first return to shareholders since “they provided us A$1.4 billion at the start of the pandemic to support our Recovery Plan.”
Qantas recently made the headlines when it was forced to ask executives to work as baggage handlers due to labour shortages.