Qantas cuts flights and profit forecast
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Qantas has warned pre-tax profits may fall by 64% to approximately AU$500 million (US$317 million) as the global economic slowdown takes hold, the Sydney Morning Herald has reported. The Australian carrier also announced that it will cut passenger capacity next year by removing routes to the equivalent of 10 aircraft.
Qantas’ out-going Chief Executive, Geoff Dixon, said the economic downturn had mainly affected its international operations.
“We are in unpredictable times and the international business market, in particular, has slowed,” Dixon was reported as saying He added that the airline’s domestic operations continue to perform well.
In August, Qantas posted a pre-tax profit of AU$1.4 billion for 2007/08. It also forecast that profits for this financial year would be in line with analyst forecasts of between AU$428 million and AU$1.0 billion, with an average of AU$751 million.
Qantas had planned to keep capacity unchanged in 2009, but the report yesterday said the carrier now plans to reduce capacity by halting all planned domestic market growth for Qantas and its low-cost subsidiary, Jetstar. The report added that Qantas would not continue with the planned lease of two Airbus A330-200 aircraft. It will also change the flying patterns of existing aircraft to free up the equivalent of six Boeing 747-400s, three 767-300s and an A320-200 between now and mid-2010.
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