Qantas has paid out bumper dividends to shareholders and announced it would buy 20 new aircraft after its before-tax profits rose by $300m to $2.4bn in the year to June
Australia’s biggest airline expanded its profit margin after holding ticket prices steady while fuel costs eased, its annual results showed on Thursday.
Investors bid up the company’s share prices in early trading, sending its market value up 10% to a record $18bn, double the capitalisation it enjoyed a year prior.
Underlying earnings across the group rose more than $200m to $2.6bn, with budget alternative Jetstar narrowing the gap between its contribution and that of Qantas domestic flights for the third year in a row.
Earnings held at $1bn for Qantas domestic but rose about $500m to $769m at Jetstar as it brought new planes into service and attracted growing numbers of customers in the year to June, two-thirds of whom paid $100 or more for their flight according to the company.
Sign up: AU Breaking News email
The group held ticket prices steady in 2024-25, with ticketed passenger revenue and ticket sales both rising by about 7%, reaching nearly $17bn from 56m tickets.
Costs fell for the second year in a row as fuel prices slipped, meaning air fares surged relative to the price of jet fuel, confirming analysis from the competition watchdog earlier in August.
Lower costs boosted the group’s operating margin over the year to 11.1%, up from 10.4%, with Jetstar growing its margin for the third year in a row to 13.7% or as high as 16% for domestic flights, the company report showed.
Qantas’ frequent flyer loyalty program also delivered underlying earnings of over $550m – a 9% increase – after attracting a rising number of customers, who earned 222bn frequent flyer points but redeemed only 185bn of them over the year.
The surge in before-tax profits to $2.4bn saw the company announce $400m in dividends for shareholders, on top of the $400m payout awarded in February, which was the company’s first dividend payment since 2019.
Qantas also announced it would buy 20 new Airbus A321XLR planes, to join its 363-strong fleet, which the report warned would increase costs in the coming year.
after newsletter promotion
Qantas has also criticised the Albanese government’s “same job, same pay” laws, which it said added $65m more in labour costs in 2024-25, a figure set to rise to $115m for the year 2025-26.
The airline also saw increased costs on legal provisioning, which rose by $65m and a further $20m as Qantas prepared to pay penalties for illegally sacking ground staff.
The federal court in 2025 ordered Qantas to spend $120m compensating affected workers and then in August fined it $90m to deter other businesses from taking similar action.
Qantas’ net profits, accounting for legal provisioning, were $1.6bn over the year, still a third higher than in 2023-24.