Qatar Airways Group announced a 3 billion QAR operating profit for fiscal year 2016 - nearly three times greater than fiscal 2015 profit of 1.1 billion QAR, resulting in an 8.6 per cent operating profit margin, an improvement of nearly six percentage points from the prior year, from 35.6 billion QAR in revenues. The company reported a net profit of 1.6 billion QAR, resulting in a net profit margin of 4.5 per cent. Net profit for fiscal 2015 was 1.1 per cent, at 374 million QAR.
Qatar Airways growth rate (CAGR) in ASK term since the relaunch in 1997 to 31st March 2016 is 28%.
Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker, said: “Qatar Airways continues to lead the industry in all aspects of the business, from our strong financial performance to our award-winning on board product. Our fiscal 2016 year was the best yet for Qatar Airways Group, and our results reflect the discipline and dedication of the more than 39,369 men and women who proudly represent our airline and its associated brands.”
For the year ending March 31, 2016, Qatar Airways Group reduced its expenses 1.5 per cent and increased its cash and bank balance from 5.5 billion QAR to 12 billion QAR, despite the significant growth in operations and an adverse movement in foreign currency exchange. Over the course of fiscal 2016, Qatar Airways added 13 new destinations and increased its overall network to more than 150 destinations on six continents. The airline was also the global launch customer of the Airbus A350XWB, the most technologically advanced aircraft in the world, and was the first commercial airline to fly it to the United States. Three continents are now served with the A350: North America, Europe and Asia.
The airline celebrated delivery of its 25th Boeing Dreamliner, and now operates a fleet of 29 787s.
Qatar Executive, the private jet division of the Qatar Airways Group, became the launch customer of the Gulfstream G650ER. Qatar Executive now has two G650ER aircraft of the total order for 30 Gulfstream family aircraft.
Qatar Airways Cargo had a record-setting year, growing to third-largest cargo operator in the world as of October 2015, and continuing to expand both its fleet and product line-up. Over the course of fiscal 2016, Qatar Airways Cargo increased its dedicated freighter destinations to 54, adding Dallas, Budapest, Prague, Ho Chi Minh City, and New York to the network. In addition, with the airline’s commercial growth, QR Cargo increased available tonnage world-wide by double digits this year and will continue to grow both organically, as the fleet is scheduled to grow to 22 aircraft by 2017, and through the airline’s growth in commercial service.
Qatar Airways launched flights to a number of high profile destinations during fiscal 2016, including daily flights to Los Angeles in the United States and Sydney in Australia, further strengthening our overall route network relevancy to travellers world-wide. Our connectivity to the United Kingdom also increased to 73 weekly flights with the addition of Birmingham, our fourth United Kingdom destination.
The destinations Qatar Airways added during the 2016 fiscal year are; Abha, Amsterdam, Birmingham, Boston, Durban, Faisalabad, Los Angeles, Multan, Nagpur, Ras Al Khaimah, Sialkot, Sydney, and Zanzibar. Closer to home, the Doha-Dubai Shuttle was introduced, the first-of-its-kind flying between the two cities, a customised service responsive to the specific needs of this heavily trafficked corridor.