Australian airline Qantas posts drop in profit, to buy back shares
Australian airline Qantas on Thursday reported that its statuary profit after tax for the six months ending on December 31 dropped by 13% to $869 million Australian ($570 million US). Underlying profit before tax was $1.25 billion for the period, a decline of $183 million year-on-year. Earnings were 13% lower than the same period a year earlier as fares and capacity continued to normalize. Lower fares contributed to reduced revenue per available seat kilometre, which had an impact on profit of around $600 million, while freight yields fell by $146 million. This was mostly offset by contributio...