Qantas beleži 1.8 milijarde dolarjev izgube kljub 1.1 milijarde dolarjev državne pomoči

Qantas has posted an underlying loss before tax of $1.83 billion, due to “diabolical” operating conditions and sudden border closures in the second half of the financial year.

This is despite the airline receiving over $1.1 billion in government aid through multiple financial aid programs, including $558 million in JobKeeper wage subsidies.

Qantas also received a combined $188 million through the Regional Airline Network Support (RANS) and Domestic Aviation Network Support (DANS) programs, as well as Qantas’ overseas repatriation efforts on behalf of the government.

Meanwhile, the airline said its total revenue loss amounted to $16 billion for the full year due to COVID-related disruptions including prolonged international border closures and “multiple waves” of domestic border restrictions.

Qantas reported a staggering statutory loss before tax, which includes one-off costs such as redundancy payouts and aircraft writedowns, of $2.35 billion.

“This loss shows the impact that a full year of closed international borders and more than 330 days of domestic travel restrictions had on the national carrier,” Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said, adding that operating conditions have “frankly been diabolical”.

»To je poleg znatne izgube, o kateri smo poročali lani, in omejitev potovanja, ki smo jim bili priča v zadnjih nekaj mesecih. Do konca tega koledarskega leta nas bo COVID verjetno stal več kot 20 milijard dolarjev prihodkov,« je dejal Joyce.

Nosilni prevoznik je med letom uvedel 650 milijonov dolarjev trajnih dolgoročnih znižanj stroškov, s ciljem doseči 1 milijardo dolarjev trajnih letnih prihrankov do 23 FY.

Qantas je od začetka pandemije dokončno zapustilo več kot 9,400 ljudi, kar je več kot 8,500, kolikor jih je prej napovedoval letalski prevoznik.

Po podatkih Qantasa so dodatne izgube osebja povzročile izgube delovnih mest v tujini na letališčih in v prodajnih pisarnah, uvedba določene avtomatizacije in povečanje števila prostovoljnih odpuščanj.

Več kot 8,500 zaposlenih je trenutno odpuščenih s svojih dolžnosti, od tega jih je 6,000 povezanih z mednarodnimi operacijami Qantasa.

“We have had to make a lot of big and difficult structural changes to deal with this crisis, and that phase is mostly behind us. As a result, we’re geared to recover quickly, in line with a national vaccine rollout that is speeding up,” Joyce said.

“Things remain tough, especially for thousands of our people waiting to return to their jobs when borders open and hopefully stay open. Our focus is getting them back to work as soon as possible.”

The airline remained confident that both international and domestic borders are “on track” to open by December 2021 off the back of Australia’s current fast-paced vaccine rollout.

Po napovedih, ki jih je dopolnila letalska družba, naj bi Avstralija do decembra dosegla 80-odstotno precepljenost svoje odrasle populacije, kar bo omogočilo ublažitev omejitev na državnih in mednarodnih mejah.

Vendar pa je Qantas opazil, da bo mednarodno ponovno odprtje verjetno "postopno" s poudarkom na državah z nizkim tveganjem, vključno s tistimi z visoko stopnjo cepljenja, vključno z Združenim kraljestvom, ZDA in deli Azije.

Od sredine decembra bosta Qantas in Jetstar ponovno vzpostavila mednarodne vozne rede med Avstralijo in državami z nizkim tveganjem, vključno s Singapurjem, ZDA, Japonsko, Združenim kraljestvom, Kanado in Fidžijem.

Letalska družba prav tako ponovno vzpostavi storitve med Avstralijo in Novo Zelandijo, pri čemer predvideva ponovni zagon trenutno zaustavljenega potovalnega balona čez Tasman, prav tako decembra.

Medtem je Qantas odložil svojo načrtovano vrnitev na destinacije z večjim tveganjem, kot so Bali, Bangkok, Manila in Johannesburg, do aprila 2022.

“The prospect of flying overseas might feel a long way off, especially in New South Wales and Victoria in lockdown, but the current pace of the vaccine rollout means we should have a lot more freedom in a few months’ time,” said Joyce.

“It’s obviously up to the government exactly how and when our international borders re-open, but with Australia on track to meet the 80 per cent trigger agreed by National Cabinet by the end of the year, we need to plan ahead for what is a complex restart process.”

“There’s a lot of work that needs to happen, including training our people and carefully bringing aircraft back into service. We’re also working to integrate the IATA travel pass into our systems to help our customers prove their vaccine status and cross borders,” the airline chief added.

»Naše načrte lahko prilagodimo, če se okoliščine spremenijo, kar smo v tej pandemiji že večkrat morali narediti. Nekateri bi morda rekli, da smo preveč optimistični, a glede na hitrost uvajanja cepiva je to dosegljivo in želimo se prepričati, da smo pripravljeni.«

Source: https://australianaviation.com.au/2021/08/qantas-posts-1-8bn-loss-despite-seeing-1-1bn-in-government-aid/