Qatar Airways reported a decline of more than 7% in annual net profit, in a sign of how Gulf airlines are struggling to cope with the biggest disruption to their operations since the pandemic.
The state-owned carrier posted a $1.9 billion profit for the year to the end of March, with revenue and passenger traffic hit by repeated airspace closures. Thousands of cancelled flights led to a drop in available seat kilometers — an industry measure of airline capacity — indicating the depth of the hole Gulf airlines now have to dig themselves out of.
Emirates earlier this month posted record profits, benefiting from a quicker restoration of capacity at its Dubai base during the conflict. Qatar Airways is still rebuilding its schedule and remains in expansion mode, with a large Boeing widebody order still on the books. One bright note amid the gloom: The airline’s private jet unit benefited from having much of its fleet positioned outside Qatar during the war.
