Qatar Airways to acquire 203 new aircraft despite 21% profit drop and struggles for more routes

Qatar Airways to acquire 203 new aircraft despite 21% profit drop and struggles for more routes
By Zach Havard


Qatar Airways will secure 203 new aircraft in coming years despite posting a 21 per cent drop in net profit in the financial year to March.

Qatar’s 2023 annual report highlights the capital commitments for an order of aircraft and engines worth QR255 billion (AUD $109 billion).

The carrier’s 21 per cent decline in net profit has been partly attributed to the spike in traffic generated by the FIFA World Cup in Doha as well as a rise in operating expenses, especially jet fuel as a result of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

“Higher revenue doesn’t always correlate to higher profit, especially when costs increase,” partner, Midas Aviation, John Grant, told AGBI.

“Moreover, if a substantial proportion of the World Cup passengers were on discounted or promotional fares, this would impact profitability despite higher passenger numbers.

“As the world returns to normal then airlines such as Qatar Airways, who have a very small local market and rely on connecting traffic for their major revenues, are having to once again fight for every passenger that they carry and that has resulted in a weakened set of results.”

Qatar is a somewhat prominent figure in the Australian aviation market, making up around 5 per cent, though pales in comparison to the national carrier, Qantas, which takes up 17 per cent of the market.

The Qatari-state-owned airline currently flies 28 times a week to major Australian airports, though is looking to add a further 21 flights. The application was recently blocked by the Australian government.

The Australian Financial Report reported it had seen figures from airline industry experts that detail a loss of over half a billion dollars for the Australian economy as a result of the blocked flights.

It also announced on Tuesday a partnership with Iberia and British Airways to effectively become the world’s largest joint airline business, covering passengers from over 60 countries and servicing more than 200 destinations.

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