Qatar Airways has reported a net loss of QAR 7 billion (approx. $1.86bn) for the fiscal year (FY) 2019-20. The airline states that without the impact of the ongoing illegal air space blockade against the State of Qatar, the liquidation of Air Italy by the majority shareholder, changes to accounting policy and reporting standards and the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, it had been on target to post improved annual results with the Group’s overall revenue and other operating income rising by 6.4% to QAR 51.1 billion. Passenger revenue grew by 8.9% with capacity up by 3.2%. Qatar Airways carried 32.4 million passengers, an increase of 9.8% over last financial year. Freight tonnes handled increased by 2.8% and passenger traffic at Hamad International Airport increased by 8.6%.
Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker, said: “Despite the momentous challenges our Group has faced in 2019-20, Qatar Airways Group continues to remain resilient, reporting strong underlying fundamentals. If not for the exceptional circumstances of fiscal year 2020, our results would have been better than the year before.
Qatar Airways has invested QAR 16.8 billion in fleet and other assets during the fiscal year and had a cash balance of QAR 7.3 billion at year end. Al Baker states that the airline had made “significant progress” with its three-year transformation plan, which will assist the airline in the post-COVID period.
“I have every confidence that the Qatar Airways Group will emerge stronger from this difficult period and continue to innovate and set the standards that our competitors can only hope to emulate,” he said.
Qatar Airways also confirms that it has received approximately $2 billion in state aid to cope with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Qatar Airways will issue 730 million shares to the government after annual losses exceeded 50 per cent of share capital.