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Qantas has stabilised its business enough to pay shareholders a dividend for the first time in 7 years. The airline announced Wednesday it would pay out A$.07 per share off the back of a $1.02b net profit in the 2015/16 financial year, up 80% on the year before. The result fell slightly short of expectations. Analysts forecast net income of $1.13b, based on the average of 6 estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Qantas will also reward 25,000 workers who were hit with an 18-month pay freeze as part of the turnaround plan with a $3000 "record result" bonus. The airline posted a pre-tax underlying profit of $1.53b compared to $975m the year before. The market consensus forecast was $1.57b. Revenue was $16.2b - $100m short of market expectations. <br/>

Twenty MD-80s flew their last flights for American Airlines Tuesday. The airline retired the aircraft to the Roswell International Air Centre in New Mexico in one of the largest single-day fleet retirements. The planes, many of which were first put into service in the late 1980s, will be used for replacement parts or could be sold to an airline, possibly in another country. American has spent millions on new aircraft in recent years to modernise its fleet, replacing aging aircraft, like the MD-80, with new Airbus A319s. The airline has been slowly taking old airplanes out of service but a spokesman noted that Tuesday’s retirement of almost two dozen planes is unusual. American had 87 MD-80s in operation by the end of June. With the retirements, it expects to have only 52 left in operation by the end of the year. <br/>