SYDNEY, Feb 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Australia’s national carrier, Qantas, has touted optimism that, the turbulence of the pandemic is beginning to settle, despite posting its fourth consecutive half yearly loss.
The balance report released today showed, the “Flying Kangaroo” suffered losses of 1.28 billion Australian dollars (about 930 million U.S. dollars), in the six months ending 2021.
Flights during the period were reduced down to just 18 percent of total capacity, due to lockdowns and international border closures.
“Most of Australia was in lockdown for several months of the first half, so the loss we’ve announced today isn’t surprising, but it is frustrating,” said Qantas CEO, Alan Joyce.
Joyce has previously stated that the arrival of Omicron in the late 2021, has been the most disruptive period of the entire pandemic for the airline.
With the virus continuing to wreak havoc, the report estimated that Omicron would cause 650 million Australian dollars (about 470 million U.S. dollars) of negative impact, in the first half of 2022.
“The uncertainty carried over into Jan, but demand has started to recover as Australia adjusts to truly living with COVID…intent to travel is extremely high…We’ve also seen a sharp uptick in international ticket sales in the past few weeks,” said Joyce.
And despite the obvious challenges, the company asserted the strength of its position in the strength of its balance sheet.
Following the sale of land in Sydney’s inner south, the airline generated 552 million Australian dollars (about 400 million U.S. dollars), reducing its total debt down to 5.5 billion Australian dollars (about four billion U.S. dollars), within the target range of a total liquidity of 4.3 billion Australian dollars (about 3.1 billion U.S. dollars).
And as the airline looks to further close this gap, domestic capacity is expected to return to 69 percent of pre-COVID levels, in the three months to Oct, and 90 percent to 100 percent by the end of 2022.
International travel is expected to stage a more gradual return, hitting 22 percent capacity by Oct, and 44 percent by the end of the year.
“We’re very conscious of the support and patience shown by customers and shareholders, as we all wait for travel conditions to stabilise. In the meantime, we’ve done a lot of work to put this company in the best possible position to deliver,” said Joyce.– NNN-AGENCIES
