Qantas Group posts first full-year profit since COVID

Sydney, Australia—The Qantas Group says it posted its first full-year statutory profit since FY19 and will share the benefits by rewarding employees, reinvesting for customers, and returning capital to shareholders.

For FY23, the Group achieved an Underlying Profit Before Tax of $2.47 billion and a Statutory After-Tax Profit of $1.74 billion. This compares with $7 billion in accumulated statutory losses over three prior years.

Underpinning the profit was the completion of the Group’s $1 billion recovery program (launched in the first year of those losses), a 132 percent increase in flying compared with FY22, and strong travel demand driving significantly higher revenue.

Operational performance improved considerably during the year after a challenging ramp-up, with Qantas achieving the best on-time performance of the major domestic airlines for 11 months out of 12 and Jetstar returning to pre-COVID levels. Customer satisfaction, while not back to pre-COVID levels, has also improved in line with operational performance.

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said the airline has made a substantial turnaround in both its finances and service over the past year—flying almost 70 billion more seat kilometers and serving over 46 million travelers.

“Flight delays and cancellations have largely returned to pre-COVID levels and we’ve shifted from heavy losses to a strong profit and pipeline of investment worth billions of dollars,” said Joyce. “Travel demand is incredibly robust and we’ve taken delivery of more aircraft and opened up new routes to help meet it. It’s because we’re in a strong financial position that we’re able to invest in new aircraft, new destinations and new training facilities – all things that will make us better in the future.”

“Our people have done a superb job under very difficult circumstances. Today’s result means more than 21,000 non-executive staff will receive up to $6,000 worth of Qantas shares as a thank-you for their part in our recovery, plus another $500 staff travel credit. This is in addition to a $5,000 cash payment to eligible employees as new enterprise agreements are finalized,” he added.

This strength enables the Group to keep investing heavily in customer experience, including firm orders for a further 24 Boeing and Airbus widebody aircraft from FY27 onwards to replace Qantas’ A330 fleet, plus purchase the right options for future renewal and growth.

A major fare sale and over 1 billion in loyalty bonus points to say ‘thank you’ to customers have also been announced.