Qatar Airways powers through Covid storm to notch record profit
Qatar Airways is reporting its highest annual profit and is claiming the best result for all airlines so far this year in spite of the continued impact of the pandemic.
The Doha-based giant reported the best net profit in its 25-year history; US$1.54 billion ($2.42b).
Qatar — which flies three times a week to Auckland — last year was for a time the world’s largest global longhaul carrier by revenue passenger kilometres.
At a time when many airlines were struggling to rebuild, in April last year, Qatar carried 5 per cent of international traffic. In the full year it operated a fleet of 257 aircraft, just one short of its pre-pandemic fleet.
Overall revenue increased to US$14.4b for the 2021/22 financial year, up 78 per cent compared to last year and “a remarkable” 2 per cent higher than the full financial year preCovid.
Passenger revenue increased by
210 per cent over the last year, due to the growth of the Qatar network, increase in market share and higher unit revenue, for the second financial year in a row. Qatar Airways carried
18.5 million passengers, an increase of 218 per cent over last year but still well down on the 32 million carried in the 2019/2020 year.
The profit announcement comes as the airline is host carrier for next week’s International Air Transport Association annual meeting in Doha and later this year will fly tens of thousands of fans to the football World Cup.
The airline group is hiring 10,000 staff which will take it back to around the 50,000 employed before the pandemic.
Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al Baker said the airline had pursued every business opportunity and “left no stone unturned” as it aimed to meet targets.
The outspoken Al Baker has led the airline since 1997 when it was relaunched after being founded four years earlier by the Qatari royal family. He is now embroiled in a bitter legal battle with Airbus over the quality of A350 paint jobs, the latest skirmish with an aircraft maker.
The airline had reported annual losses since its 2017/18 financial year, due to a regional rift that meant it couldn’t land in or fly over some neighbouring countries and then the impact of Covid-19.
In commentary, the airline says that in the most difficult period ever in the global airline industry, its positive results were due to its agility and successful strategy which continued to focus on customer needs and evolving market opportunities.
Rival airline in the Middle East, Emirates, reported a $1.1b loss earlier this year and other long-haul carriers continue to face heavy losses. Local carrier Air New Zealand is heading towards a $750m deficit as border restrictions in this country have delayed its rebuild.
The Qatar Airways group generated ebitda margins of 34 per cent ($4.9b). Ebitda was higher than the prior year by QAR$11.8b (US$3.2b).
Qatar Airways Cargo grew 25 per cent over past year.
Its operation grew to more than 140 destinations in 2021/22, opening new routes including Abidjan, Cte d’Ivoire; Lusaka, Zambia; Harare, Zimbabwe; Almaty, Kazakhstan and Kano and Port Harcourt, Nigeria in addition to resuming flights to key markets across Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
Qatar has invested heavily in its VIP charter jet division and is experiencing what is a global surge in demand for private flights. It says the demand for charters has doubled compared to pre-Covid levels and has expanded its Gulfstream jet fleet.
The airline operated what was for a time the longest non-stop flight in the world between Doha and Auckland but this was canned when the pandemic hit and the airline flew initially through Brisbane and now Adelaide using a Boeing 777-300 aircraft.
It will increase frequency to five days a week in July, and all flights will have its Q-Suite business class product. Services could expand further.
Other airlines are also expanding, according to figures out yesterday.
Aviation analytics and data firm IBA says in May seat capacity was at 78 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, 4 per cent up on April.
The number of aircraft in storage has fallen this year and in May 14 per cent were parked up, 6 per cent above the same month in 2019.
“It is unlikely that there will be many increases in capacity while there are operational staffing challenges and oil prices remaining high (with existing hedges unwinding) despite available aircraft in storage,” IBA says.