Qantas' half-year profit has dipped from a record high in part due to lower airfares. It's the first result under the new CEO Vanessa Hudson who took over from Alan Joyce last September. The airline has been working to improve its reputation with customers including new investments in aircraft call centres and technology.
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TVTranscript
00:00 New planes, more seats and a better experience.
00:06 Yes, beautiful aircraft.
00:08 Qantas's new CEO hopes it will improve the airline's turbulent relationship with customers.
00:14 On time performance, reliability and lowering cancellations is number one for them.
00:20 Qantas is also investing in more call centre staff and faster Wi-Fi speeds.
00:26 Vanessa Hudson says airfares have fallen since December 2022.
00:31 They've come down by over 10% across both Qantas and Jetstar,
00:36 across both domestic and also international.
00:39 The airline blamed lower airfares for a 13% fall in profit to $873 million in the six months to December,
00:48 after making a billion dollars in the same period in 2022.
00:53 But those earnings will come under pressure as Qantas plans to spend billions of dollars renewing its fleet.
01:00 They might want to spend some of those profits on getting their flights on time.
01:03 The aviation giant is still facing many headwinds.
01:07 There's a looming ACCC case against the airline,
01:11 alleging it sold customers flights that were already cancelled,
01:15 as well as a class action and calls for the government to consider
01:20 whether it needs to break up Qantas to improve competition.
01:24 Probably a bit late to break them up, but it's worth looking at.
01:30 But another former competition watchdog boss,
01:32 who now works for an aviation industry group, thinks there's enough competition.
01:37 What I want to do is to urge everyone just to take a chill pill
01:41 and wait for the proper bodies, the Productivity Commission, the ACCC and Federal Treasury,
01:47 to give their unbiased reports.
01:50 Then we'll know if there is price gouging.
01:53 Continued pressure on an airline trying to reinvent itself.
01:57 itself.
01:57 [BLANK_AUDIO]