It said the Middle East conflict and associated impact on fuel prices had cost it A$420 million during the financial year.<\/p>\n
New suite<\/p>\n
The airline unveiled a new business class suite today for its Airbus A321XLR fleet.<\/p>\n
Renderings of the new A321XLR business class suite.<\/p>\n
It said that would bring a lie-flat bed to Qantas narrowbody aircraft for the first time.<\/p>\n
The company said it was carrying out the biggest fleet renewal in its history.<\/p>\n
The group received 17 new aircraft in the last financial year and expected up to 31 more this year.<\/p>\n
It said its Qantas Frequent Flyer scheme grew to nearly 19 million members. <\/p>\n
It also said today that it had opened the new Emergency Procedures Training Centre in Sydney, part of a A$100m investment in pilot and cabin crew training facilities.<\/p>\n
Fuel prices <\/p>\n
Moody\u2019s Ratings vice-president Sean Williams said high fuel prices would probably continue to weigh on near-term earnings.<\/p>\n
But he said Qantas had strong financial flexibility and a leading market position, which helped it adjust pricing and capacity in response to changing market conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile profitability declined, demand remained broadly resilient across its domestic, international and loyalty businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson.<\/p>\n
Qantas chief executive Vanessa Hudson said 25,000 employees would get A$1000 of Qantas shares through the airline\u2019s employee ownership plan.<\/p>\n
Hudson also said the annual fuel bill would have been A$610m higher than expected. Capacity and fare adjustments ameliorated that.<\/p>\n
In April, Qantas blamed jet fuel price volatility for fare hikes and capacity changes<\/a>. <\/p>\n In an April trading update, it said it had hedged about 90% of its second-half exposure in crude oil but was exposed to movements in jet fuel refining margins.<\/p>\n It said at the time there was strong demand for flights to Europe, so it increased services to Paris and Rome, and cut some domestic services. <\/p>\n But the following month it said it was making its biggest investment in New Zealand<\/a>. <\/p>\n Since the financial year ended, Qantas had conducted its first Project Sunrise test flight from France to Australia<\/a>.<\/p>\n The specially configured Airbus A350-1000ULR landed in Melbourne after a 19-hour flight. <\/p>\n \u201cDemand for long-haul routes and premium cabins continues to grow, as does our confidence in Project Sunrise,\u201d Hudson said today.<\/p>\n A380<\/p>\n The Qantas fleet includes the world\u2019s biggest passenger aircraft, the Airbus A380.<\/p>\n Hudson said the airline would gradually phase out that aircraft from 2028.<\/p>\n That was because the airline was in talks with Airbus and Boeing about converting about 20 of its existing options to firm orders from 2030.<\/p>\n In other events during the financial year, the airline group closed Jetstar Asia.<\/p>\n It redeployed seven of that carrier\u2019s aircraft to Jetstar Australia and New Zealand<\/a>.<\/p>\n Air New Zealand\u2019s annual result is due to be published tomorrow. <\/p>\nQantas says it will start phasing out the giant double-decker A380 from the year after next. <\/p>\n