Qantas expects to gradually resume international services to low-risk countries from December, it has announced on August 26. This is conditional on 80 percent of Australians being vaccinated by then. Qantas hopes on December restart of international services.
The first countries to be served are the US, the UK, Japan, and Canada, as they ate qualified as low-risk due to the high vaccination grade. Qantas and Jetstar will use their Boeing 787s, 737s, Airbus A330s, and A320s on these routes. The range of the A330-200s will be extended to meet trans-Pacific routes. The 787 fleet, which has been most active during the last year, will be expanded with three more aircraft that have been in storage with Boeing. Restart of services to Asia and South Africa has been deferred from December to April, when most of the international network will reopen.
From July 2022, the carrier plans to re-active five of its twelve Airbus A380s. First between Sydney and Los Angeles and from November between Sydney and London Heathrow via Singapore to meet expected high demand. This is one year earlier than previously planned. Â Qantas earlier indicated that it might reintroduce only half of its A380-fleet, but it says now that it will keep ten aircraft with refurbished cabin and retire two A380s. The ten will be fully operational again by early 2024.
Full-year loss of $2.3 billion
Qantas reported a $2.351 billion statutory loss before tax including one-off costs compared to $-2.708 billion in 2020. Underlying EBITDA was $410 million compared to $2.347 billion. Total revenues were $5.934 billion versus $14.257 billion in FY20. Revenue losses due to the Covid-crisis reached $12 billion.
Strong results from domestic operations in the second half of the financial year ( January-June) helped to generate significant cash and allowed the airline to reduce its net debt  by $500 million to $5.9 billion.
Domestic operated at just 19 percent capacity in the first months of the crisis but this recovered to 92 percent until May, when the Delta variant triggered new lockdowns. Domestic produced an Underlying EBITDA of $-669 million after  non-cash depreciation and amortization, while that of International was $1.0 billion negative. Air cargo remained extremely strong. In its forecast for FY22, Qantas expects domestic capacity to reach on average 77 percent and that of international between 40-55 percent.
By June 30, Qantas had $3.8 billion in liquidity including $1.6 billion in undrawn facilities. The carrier targets $1.0 billion in structural savings in FY23. Domestic and international produced $550 million in cost savings in FY21. Capital expenditures will be around $800 million.
Active as a journalist since 1987, with a background in newspapers, magazines, and a regional news station, Richard has been covering commercial aviation on a freelance basis since late 2016.
Richard is contributing to AirInsight since December 2018. He also writes for Airliner World, Aviation News, Piloot & Vliegtuig, and Luchtvaartnieuws Magazine. Twitter: @rschuur_aero.
