CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Australian airlines Qantas Airways Ltd. (QAN.AX,
QUBSF.PK) reported that its profit attributable to members of the company for
the half-year ended 31 December 2023 declined to A$873 million or 51.5 cents per
share from A$1.00 billion or 52.7 cents per share in the prior year.

Underlying profit before tax was A$1.245 billion for the first half of 2023/24,
a decline of A$183 million from the first half of 2022/23.

Earnings were 13 per cent lower than the same period of the prior year as fares
and capacity continued to normalize.

Lower fares contributed to reduced revenue per available seat kilometer which
had around a A$600 million impact on profit, while freight yields fell by A$146
million. However, this was mostly offset by contribution from increased flying
of A$485 million and unwinding of transition costs from the post-COVID restart
of A$179 million.

Revenue and other income for the period was A$11.13 billion up from A$9.91
billion last year.

The Qantas Group has announced several major investments for customers,
including revealing the interiors of its new A220 aircraft, accelerated rollout
of Wi-Fi on international flights and a major upgrade to digital platforms. A
double Qantas Points/Status Credits offer for Frequent Flyers has also been
launched in addition to regular domestic and international fare sales.

Qantas Group has confirmed eight additional Airbus A321XLRs for Qantas Domestic
from its existing order book announced as part of the Group's domestic fleet
renewal program. This brings the total number of Qantas A321XLRs on order to 28,
with the first due to arrive in early 2025.

In the first half of this calendar year, Jetstar will increase its domestic
flying by around 240,000 seats and its international flying by around 200,000
seats (compared with the six months before that) to popular destinations such as
Bali, Korea, Japan, Cairns, and Sunshine Coast.

As part of recognizing the efforts of its people, around 24,000 non-executive
employees will receive a A$500 staff travel voucher to go towards already
heavily discounted standby fares available to Group employees, family and
friends.

Qantas said its board has approved a return to shareholders of up to A$400
million in the form of an on-market share buyback. This is in addition to the
outstanding balance of A$48 million from the buy-back announced last year.

The Group sees strong travel demand across the portfolio. Unit revenue is
expected to remain stable for domestic and continue to normalize for
international as market capacity returns.

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