Qatari flag-carrier Qatar Airways has posted some strong financial figures for the first half of this financial year as it continues its post-pandemic fleet recovery.
Net profit reached $1.03bn for the six-month period, an increase of 113.8% year on year. That was on group total revenue of $11.02bn, up year on year by 7.4%.
The Doha-headquartered carrier said that the year to date has been characterised by “ambitious yet sustainable growth in the [airline’s] network”.
The return to service of the majority of the carrier’s A350 fleet is nearing completion and these aircraft offer additional freight as well as passenger capacity.
Fleet expansion is said by Qatar Airways as being pivotal to its growth and the carrier has around 150 aircraft on order in order to meet increasing demand for all-cargo freighter capacity as well as passenger travel.
In early March the company announced a number of new routes including Chittagong, Juba, Kinshasa, Lyon, Medan, Toulouse, and Trabzon, most of which have now been launched.
Qatar Airways also announced resumptions to 11 destinations: Beijing, Birmingham, Buenos Aires, Casablanca, Davao, Marrakesh, Nice, Osaka, Phnom Penh, Ras Al-Khaimah, and Tokyo Haneda. Up to 10 new destinations have been identified for 2024.
Qatar Airways confessed that there are a number of headwinds that are likely to be encountered by the Qatar Airways Group over the rest of this year, including geopolitical tensions and the high cost of fuel.
Nevertheless, “Management expects to continue the strong performance despite the headwinds in the second half of 2023-2024,” a statement said.
Tough 2022
In IATA’s data for 2022, Qatar Airways is placed third in the list of the world’s 25 biggest air cargo carriers (beaten only by integrators FedEx and UPS).
But it felt the impact of the tough operating climate in 2022, dropping one place to third position compared with 2021.
However, the airline, continued to bring back its passenger capacity last year, and also pledged further investment in aircraft, with orders for Boeing 777-8Fs among the plans for fleet growth.
