Australia's Qantas to buy back shares in show of confidence as demand returns
Qantas Airways Ltd said on Thursday it would buy back up to A$400 million ($276 million) of shares after the lifting of Covid curbs spurred a strong rebound in travel demand, boosting its second-half performance and lowering debt levels.
The rush to travel once borders opened has been so strong that Qantas said it had been forced to trim domestic capacity by a further 10 percentage points since its last update in June due mostly to operational challenges associated with the demand surge.
The airline posted an annual underlying loss before tax of A$1.86 billion in the 12 months ended June 30, wider than the A$1.77 billion restated figure from a year earlier and slightly bigger than analyst forecasts.
The bulk of the losses was reported in the first half when domestic and international borders were closed under strict measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.
While demand has improved, Qantas in recent months has been trimming its domestic capacity from earlier forecasts due to widespread staff shortages at airports, high rates of crew illness in winter and elevated fuel prices.
Qantas also plans to run a competition between aircraft manufacturers to replace its aging fleet of 28 Airbus A330 planes in the next 12 to 18 months, its chief financial officer said.
