Home ›› 29 Sep 2021 ›› Corporate
Qatar Airways Group reported a net loss of $4.1 billion, of which $2.3 billion is due to a one-time impairment charge related to the grounding of the airline's Airbus A380 and A330 fleets.
The information was revealed by Qatar Airways Group on Monday in its annual report for 2020-21, covering a challenging year with the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic causing extensive loss of traffic and revenues as part of a pattern seen across the global aviation industry.
Despite the difficulties, Qatar Airways Group proves that rising to the challenge is nothing new for the airline and its subsidiaries, projecting the Group’s strength, resilience, and commitment, said a press release on Tuesday.
Qatar Airways operating results demonstrated its resilience during the crisis, with the reported operational loss at $288.3 million, 7 per cent less compared to 2019-20. Furthermore, the Group achieved a significant improvement in EBITDA, which stood at $1.6 billion compared to $1.4 billion the previous year.
The Group made significant progress in its ambition to forge new strategic partnerships with several major airlines, including American Airlines, Air Canada, Alaska Airlines and China Southern Airlines. These new alliances, along with an expanded cooperation with several existing partners, including JetBlue, Iberia, LATAM, Cathay Pacific and Oman Air, further strengthened Qatar Airways connectivity, unlocking the value of the airlines relationships and providing a range of increased travel options for passengers, said the release.
Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said, "There are three words that I believe best describe Qatar Airways Group’s response in the past year – strength, resilience, and commitment. Strength to not shy away from taking a risk or avoiding difficult decisions, resilience in remaining focused and not allowing events to overcome us, and commitment by never reneging on our promises to customers, partners, and employees.”
"I am extremely proud of our people across the Qatar Airways Group who have remained agile and adapted quickly to this new reality, displaying the tenacity, versatility, and commitment to excellence so often associated with everything we do. I also wish to take this moment to express our gratitude to our shareholder, the government of the State of Qatar, for its firm support of the Qatar Airways Group during this challenging period.
