Qatar Airways posts record profit after flying throughout Covid-19

DUBAI • Qatar Airways has posted a record annual profit that it said is the highest achieved by an airline since the coronavirus hit, after restoring flights while most other carriers were still operating very limited timetables.

Net income reached a record 5.6 billion riyals (S$2.1 billion) in the year to March, rebounding from a loss of almost 15 billion riyals a year earlier, Qatar Airways said in a statement on Thursday.

Revenue rebounded 78 per cent to reach 52.3 billion riyals, some 2 per cent higher than in the last full pre-pandemic year.

State-owned Qatar Airways was unique among large, long-distance carriers in continuing to operate an extensive route network during the Covid-19 pandemic. The number of destinations served surpassed 140 in the period as the airline quickly resumed links with key cities across Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, while expanding in markets including the United States, Brazil, Canada and Nigeria.

"This profit is not only a record for Qatar Airways Group, but also a record among all other airlines that have published financial results for this financial year worldwide," the Doha-based company said, crediting the result to "its agility and successful strategy".

The 25-year-old carrier, led by chief executive Akbar Al Baker, said the decision to grow flights while rivals were retrenching was based on more accurate forecasting of the global market recovery and has helped the airline build up customer and trade loyalty.

While Qatar Airways saw traveller numbers rebound from the previous year, the cargo boom spurred by the pandemic was a major profit driver, with the carrier's dedicated freighter fleet augmented by high volumes of belly capacity on the network of passenger-only routes.

Cargo operations generated 23 billion riyals of revenue, almost the same as passenger ticket sales.

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