Qantas turns corner to recovery with forecast of profit

Qantas is on the path to recovery from the coronavirus crisis thanks to a domestic holiday boom, with the airline forecasting an underlying profit for the current financial year. Revenue from routes within Australia -- which has almost completely suppressed Covid-19 -- is expected to almost double in the half year ending June 30 from the previous six months as people holiday at home, Qantas said Thursday. Domestic air-travel demand is even greater than it was before the pandemic, the airline said. “We have a long way still to go in this recovery, but it does feel like we’re slowly starting to turn the corner,” CEO Alan Joyce said. “The business is now on a more sustainable footing.” With a global air-travel rebound still in its infancy, airlines with extensive domestic networks, from Qantas to American Airlines and Delta in the US, are faring best. Qantas and low-cost unit Jetstar have together added 38 new routes since July last year. Sydney-based Qantas now forecasts underlying earnings of between A$400m and A$450m for the 12 months ending June 30, and says net debt has peaked. The pretax loss for the period, including aircraft writedowns and staff layoff costs, will exceed A$2b, it said. The airline said consumer confidence is “proving more resilient” compared with the early days of the crisis.<br/>