AUSTRALIA’S flag carrier Qantas Airways on Thursday posted a 12.8 per cent fall in first-half profit and announced an additional on-market stock buyback of up to A$400 million.

The decline in first-half earnings was due to fares and capacity normalising, the company said.

The airline posted an underlying profit before tax of A$1.25 billion (S$1.06 billion) for the six months ended Dec 31, compared with A$1.43 billion a year earlier.

That marginally missed a consensus estimate of A$1.26 billion, according to Jefferies.

Henry Jennings, a senior analyst at Marcustoday Financial Newsletter, said it is a positive to do another buyback, especially given the capital requirements of the company but does put some support under the stock.

Lower fares contributed to a fall in Qantas‘ revenue per available seat kilometre, which had around a A$600 million impact on the company’s bottom-line, it said.

GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY

Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.

Sign UpVIEW ALL

The century-old airline, which is currently embroiled in a series of scandals including strike threats by pilots at its unit, predicted its net debt to be at or below the middle of the target range by end of fiscal 2024, while reporting net debt of A$4.0 billion during the first half.

At end of December, the Qantas fleet totalled 341 aircraft.

During the first half of 2024, the country’s flag carrier faced multiple challenges like reputational harm, periodic industrial action by pilots, board renewals and other regulatory breaches.

On Wednesday, the company named former Telstra boss John Mullen as a replacement for its outgoing chair Richard Goyder. REUTERS