On the same day Virgin Blue announced that it was cutting its profit outlook, Qantas said that it remains on track to record a pretax profit of $300-$400 million for the 2010 financial year.
The airline made the report about its guidance in reporting its April operating statistics to the Australian Securities Exchange, which overall saw the Qantas Group record a 5.3 per cent increase in passenger numbers over the same month in 2009, although seat factor declined by 1.7 points to 78.6 per cent. The group was dragged down by a 19.4 per cent fall in Qantas international passengers, while passenger numbers on both Qantas and Jetstar domestic services were up. The report also noted that group yield was down 11.5 per cent compared to the same time two years ago.
CEO Alan Joyce followed up on the statistics at the Australian Tourism Exchange in Adelaide, telling reporters that once again the Qantas Group was benefiting from its two brand strategy. “We have the unique ability to be able to grow whichever brand is performing best at that particular time,” he said, adding that there were signs that premium traffic was beginning to rebound from the global financial crisis.
