Australian flag carrier reveals plan for its 12 Airbus A380s as it reports losses of £1.5 billion
Qantas’ full-year financial results have revealed that it made a loss of A$2.7bn (£1.5bn) for the year ending June, as it continues to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite having a strong first half of the financial year – during which the firm posted an $800m (£436m) profit – the national carrier’s last six months have been plagued with a $4bn (£2.2bn) hole in revenue and a $1.4bn (£760m) write-down of assets, including its A380s and $600m (£327m) in expenses relating to redundancies.
Yet Alan Joyce, the group’s CEO, remains confident about the future. In a statement, he said: “We know that travel is at the top of people’s wish lists and that demand will return as soon as restrictions lift. That means we can get more of our people back to work.”
Speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box Asia programme, Joyce said international traffic will take the longest time to recover: “In the financial year 2022, we are only expecting to get 50% of our international operation back.”
This, he said, will mean it could take “three years before we can get our A380s back in the air.”
Qantas’ 12 Airbus A380s are currently in long-term storage in the Mojave Desert. Last month, the carrier retired its last Boeing 747 as it went about its plan to streamline its fleet in a bid to reduce costs.
