As forewarned, Qantas has posted a loss of A$235 million during the six months to December 2013, which compares to a A$111 million ($114 million) profit for the same period a year ago.
In a bid to cut costs further, Qantas has announced 5,000 job cuts and a realignment of the carrier’s fleet that will be reduced from 11 to seven aircraft types. The airline also stated that wages would be frozen until the airline made a profit.
"We are facing the toughest conditions Qantas has ever seen," said CEO Alan Joyce. "This performance by our airlines is unacceptable and the current position is unsustainable.”
In an effort to trim its fleet, Qantas plans to retire some of its older 747s earlier than plan and defer deliveries of A380s, A320s and 787s. Joyce has again blamed much of Qantas’ woes on the "uneven playing field" in the country that allowed rival Virgin Australia to flourish due to the fact it is 64% owned by three state-owned carriers Air New Zealand, Etihad Airways and Singapore Airlines.
"Late last year, these three foreign airline shareholders invested more than AU$300 million in Virgin Australia. That capital injection has supported continued domestic capacity growth by Virgin Australia despite its growing losses," he said.
Joyce has argued continuously that the 49% cap on foreign ownership, put Qantas at a disadvantage. The arguments for lowering such restrictions are being discussed by the Australian government, which has also mooted that it could provide Qantas with a government-backed debt facility.
CLARRIFICATION
On the 19th February 2014, Aviation News Online published an article entitled “THY stokes A380 rumour mill” that set out our own speculation that it could be possible that THY would seek to wet lease four A380s from Skymark Airlines. However, we have now been informed by Skymark that it has not held any discussions with either THY or Amedeo in relation to the matters detailed in the article.