oneworld

Qantas Airways has soared out of the disrupted pandemic era to post a record $2.47b full-year underlying profit, backed by strong travel demand and high ticket prices. The 2022-23 results mark a stark change from a year earlier, when it fell to a $1.86b loss. “This is a remarkable turnaround, three years in the making. And it’s been hard,” Qantas’ outgoing CE Alan Joyce said. “Fundamentally, travel demand is extremely robust.” Australian international air fares have surged even after major costs, including jet fuel, have fallen from the high prices recorded early last year after disruptions to global oil supply. All financial metrics accelerated at Qantas. The return-on-invested-capital measurement, which tracks how well a company generates profits, increased to 103.6%, an almost mythical figure. This compares with a return of less than 20% before the pandemic. Qantas’ domestic earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) – an indication of profit margins – jumped to 18.2%, representing a 50% increase in profit margins over the past six years. Typical profit margins for domestic aviation operators in Australia have traditionally been between 8 and 10%. International margins including freight were at 11.7%, while Jetstar’s margin was 9.5%. The Qantas results will be a bitter pill for some travellers, who have experienced a disrupted period of travel, punctuated by very high air fares.<br/>

Qantas Airways ordered dozens more long-range Boeing and Airbus jets in a bid to keep pace with a post-pandemic travel boom that’s delivering record profits. Qantas is buying 12 Boeing 787s and 12 Airbus A350s to replace the bulk of its aging fleet of Airbus A330s. The Australian airline also has options, evenly split between the two manufacturers, to buy more of the aircraft over the next decade and beyond, it said Thursday. The order marks the airline’s third major plane purchase in less than two years. Qantas will replace its 10 A380s with A350s from about 2032 onwards, it said. The plane purchases add to a sales surge at rivals Boeing and Airbus. Airlines from India’s IndiGo to Ryanair Holdings Plc in Europe are lining up aircraft deliveries stretching into the next decade as an insatiable appetite for international flights collides with a shortage of new planes. While fares may have peaked, Qantas said there’s little sign that cost-of-living pressures are eating into budgets. “Fundamentally, travel demand is extremely robust,” said outgoing CEO Alan Joyce, announcing his last set of results before he hands over in November to Vanessa Hudson, the airline’s current finance chief. “We can afford to invest and grow – especially in new aircraft – while still delivering returns to shareholders.” While Qantas was known to be weighing up a replacement for its A330s — a key aircraft on the airline’s pan-Asian routes — Thursday’s order was announced months earlier than expected. In the current market, airlines that hold back on plane orders risk adding years to delivery dates, if they can secure them at all. The waitlist is already years-long for the most popular jets made by Boeing and Airbus. Joyce told investors earlier this year that the two planemakers were “essentially full” for most of this decade.<br/>