Qatar Airways has just revealed its results for the 2023-2024 financial year (April 1, 2023, through March 31, 2024), and they’re very impressive, the best in the company’s 27-year history. This follows the airline reporting record revenue the year before, and reporting a (previous) record profit the year before that.
In this post:
Qatar Airways 2023-2024 financial results
Qatar Airways has had quite the year. In some ways, this was Qatar Airways’ first “normal” year since the start of the pandemic, since Qatar hosted the FIFA World Cup in 2022. With that in mind, here’s a look at Qatar Airways’ results for the 2023-2024 financial year:
- Qatar Airways reported a net profit of $1.7 billion, compared to $1.21 billion the year before
- Qatar Airways reported revenue of $22.2 billion (the highest in the company’s history), compared to $21 billion the year before
- Qatar Airways carried 40 million passengers, compared to 31.7 million passengers the year before
- Qatar Airways had an 83% average load factor, compared to an 80% load factor the year before
- Qatar Airways saw passenger revenue increase by 19%, with a capacity increase of 21%
- Qatar Airways generated an EBITDA margin of 24% at $5.2 billion, which is $300 million higher than the year before
Here’s how Qatar Airways Group CEO Badr Mohammed Al Meer describes these results:
“These very strong financials are a testament to the ambition and clear direction that has informed the Qatar Airways Group’s progress throughout the 2023/24 financial year.”
“Our continued focus on profitability, efficiency and customer experience have been underpinned by a strategic programme of network growth and fleet expansion, resulting in the highest revenues and profit margins in the history of the airline. We also cemented our undisputed role as a key industry leader, maintaining our position as the airline of choice for millions of passengers worldwide.
“This incredible achievement is in no small part thanks to the collective endeavour of the entire Qatar Airways Group family who have worked tirelessly to achieve such stellar results. We must now use this as a foundation on which to build our continued success.”
And speaking of Al Meer, I’d say he’s the best thing that happened to Qatar Airways in the past financial year, replacing longtime previous CEO Akbar Al Baker. Al Meer has done a great job bringing some humanity back to the leadership at the airline, and he is doing a lot to help morale among staff. Hopefully that leads to even better long term results.
My take on Qatar Airways’ financial results
Qatar Airways is really coming into its own post-pandemic, in my opinion. During the pandemic, the airline did a great job maintaining global connectivity while other airlines didn’t, and the airline has maintained that momentum in recent months.
It goes without saying that these results from Qatar Airways are impressive, as the airline is setting company records in just about every way, from revenue, to profit, to load factor. Basically the only thing that hasn’t improved is yield, but that’s standard, as virtually all airlines have seen yield decrease a bit, as capacity has increased.
Now, I will note that Qatar Airways definitely lags in profitability compared to its biggest competitor, Emirates. Emirates reported a profit of $4.7 billion in the past financial year, making it one of the world’s most profitable airlines. Then again, Emirates is also significantly larger, carrying around 25% more passengers, and getting around 50% more revenue.
Let me also acknowledge that when I write about the financial performance of the Gulf carriers, there are always questions about whether this is all just imaginary math, given that the Gulf carriers are state owned. After all, going back several years, US airlines spent millions of dollars campaigning to convince us that these are all heavily subsidized airlines that light money on fire (they’ve since changed their tune).
Yes, these results are accurate, and they’re independently audited per international financial reporting standards. However, there’s no denying that the math on some things works differently for an airline like Qatar Airways than many other airlines:
- Qatar Airways has had easier access to attractive financing on account of being government owned, which has allowed the airline to become what it is
- Qatar Airways largely has lower operating costs than other airlines, given that the airline essentially has the same owner as the airport, ground handlers, catering company, etc.
So no, it’s not really an apples-to-apples comparison to look at the financial results of US carriers vs. Gulf carriers. US carriers have a lot more high yield revenue opportunities, but also have much higher costs.
Bottom line
Qatar Airways has reported its results for the past financial year, and they’re overwhelmingly positive. The airline group had record revenue, profits, load factor, and more. Global airlines are doing about as well as they ever have, given the seemingly insatiable demand for international travel.
What do you make of Qatar Airways’ financial results?
@Ben. Don't forget, rolled into the numbers are the proceeds from the QDC which has a MONOPOLY on ALL the pork and alcohol sold in the State of Qatar! THAT is ALOT of money!!!!
Well, the more money you take from customers, the more profit you get. Also, keep all your employees on a short leesh.
Credit for Akbar please? He was in charge for the first 7 months of the financial year (Apr-Oct)
Very impressive. Increasingly becoming one of the best managed airlines globally.
Thank you for highlighting the fact that Qatar Airways is government owned. It is not even close to being a fair comparison. Unlimited finances=great airline. This is true for several “great” airlines in the region.
It is just the opposite. Government-owned corporations tend to be inefficient and provide lousy services exacly because of the guaranteed and generous financing and lack of accountability to private shareholders. Qatar's sucess as a governmental entity, both operationally and in terms of service, is an outlier.
Great point. How many govt.-owned carriers have been money losers over the decade?
QR runs a tight ship.
Apropos, given how much I fly QR I(every six-eight weeks), I'm sure I've added to their profits...LOL.
Excellent to see Qatar making money. They kept Australia connected during the pandemic.
When the national carrier was a disgrace and shut down, stole billions off the taxpayer and sold fake flight tickets to customers.
Qantas is no saint, of course. Far from it. Joyce even less so. And the fact that QR kept most of its international network open during peak COVID in 2020, when EK and others went into hibernation, should be applauded. That QR has long been one of the world’s best airlines — though much of it by its own proclamation — helps a lot.
But I have a hard time getting behind an airline which...
Qantas is no saint, of course. Far from it. Joyce even less so. And the fact that QR kept most of its international network open during peak COVID in 2020, when EK and others went into hibernation, should be applauded. That QR has long been one of the world’s best airlines — though much of it by its own proclamation — helps a lot.
But I have a hard time getting behind an airline which strip-searched its female passengers in that very country, Australia. Which is the most global symbol of a regime which continues to crack down on LGBTQ+ communities. Which reserves its wealth for the top few and lets the rest trickle down, drip by drip, with its severely tied-down cabin crew receiving very little. (A decade ago the Swedish newspaper Expressen did a stunning exposé that I still remember.)
Yes, Al Meer has changed a lot at QR in the short time he’s been there, but QR is not to be praised for Qantas’ sins. At least that’s my two cents…
How about rewarding their customers and sharing some profit ny reducing their fares.
The reason the Gulf carriers do so well is that they pay their employees so much less than carriers in either Europe, the US, or the developed countries of Asia and yet charge fares comparable to full-service carriers in those countries. The Middle East has long been the crossroads of the world and the airlines there combine a labor cost advantage with geography
The Middle East carriers use the cruise ship model in the airline...
The reason the Gulf carriers do so well is that they pay their employees so much less than carriers in either Europe, the US, or the developed countries of Asia and yet charge fares comparable to full-service carriers in those countries. The Middle East has long been the crossroads of the world and the airlines there combine a labor cost advantage with geography
The Middle East carriers use the cruise ship model in the airline industry.
There are people that are WILLING to work in that scheme but labor costs are the reason why the ME carriers including TK make money.
They mostly hire global, and white collar workers in the UAE and Qatar aren't exactly known for being low paid.
They only have such a large talent pool because they offer such a large salary package. You can check their websites if you don't believe me.
They are profitable because of the combination of good management and a favourable business environment (ie no silly curfews).
Except that, Qatar is government owned.
Imagine the possibilities.
as a publicly traded company, QR and EK both provide data on their total salary costs and the number of employees just like AF/KL Group, AA, DL and UA, LH Group, Ryanair and International Consolidated Airlines Group and the Japanese airlines and SQ etc.
It isn't that difficult to see that the ME carriers do indeed pay less than most western and developed Asian airlines
They do pay much more less. They source they pilots and flight attendants from developing countries. While they do hire from developed countries, they have a high turn over rate in them.
They also hire subcontractors in Europe and united states. They never hire directly. Otherwise, unions would form and demand matching wages ( to other airlines). This is the reason why so many people complain about the poor ground customer service.
Former ceo Akbar Al Baker used to brag about how low the employee to aircraft ratio count was.
With such a razor thin eye on costs (which explains the planned A380 retirement), it's not particularly a surprise how they manage to squeeze over a BILLION dollars in a market whose O/D isn't the greatest.
Also helps when you pay your employees poorly.
A great result and they work hard to provide an excellent product from lounges to onboard food and wine, my only “negative” would be please stop with last minute aircraft swaps , I understand last minute operational requirements but don’t ask me to pay for a QSUITE seat and when not provided have me constantly email for a refund to get no response, I’m still waiting for over $1,000
If you knew how little they pay their employees that may add another negative.
I would hope your take on their corporate profits would also discuss the rampant discrimination towards their LGBTQIA+ employees.
It's great to have profits, but not at the cost of human rights. QR is able to rake in record profits at the expense of minority groups. People can say what they want about US airlines, but at least they don't participate in the oppression of marginalized groups
@ Yoloswag420 -- I'm curious, where do you think I should draw the line with discussing social issues? In every single post about something that could be controversial, should I dedicate an entire section to that?
When I write about the Park Hyatt Marrakech opening, should I dedicate an entire section to the country's laws impacting gays? When I write about Hilton's double elite nights promotion, should I write about how the company operates in...
@ Yoloswag420 -- I'm curious, where do you think I should draw the line with discussing social issues? In every single post about something that could be controversial, should I dedicate an entire section to that?
When I write about the Park Hyatt Marrakech opening, should I dedicate an entire section to the country's laws impacting gays? When I write about Hilton's double elite nights promotion, should I write about how the company operates in (and profits off of) all kinds of countries with bad human rights records?
I do my best to cover the industry in a fair way, and to make this blog an escape for readers from everything else going on in the world. Everyone can draw their own conclusions on things.
As you'll know, I've absolutely written about concerns I have with the Middle East, and I've also covered gay issues in Qatar. But I don't think I have to include it in every single post whenever the airline is mentioned.
Here's an honest question for you. You comment a lot, and when you state your opinion about the blog, it's almost always negative. You never say "good post," or "I enjoyed that," but rather love to point out how I don't do a good job with so many things. If that's how you feel, why read? If there's content you enjoy or that you think is well written, maybe sometimes say something positive as well, given how many opinions you have. Is that unreasonable?
I generally view the absence of critical commentary as a positive sign. The majority of your readers aren't glazing you every article, but the fact they return shows they view the content favorably. You can clearly see that most of the comments on your articles range from neutral to critical insights.
I commented on LGBTQIA+ rights specifically because you have one of the largest independent platforms in the aviation industry. Therefore I see value in...
I generally view the absence of critical commentary as a positive sign. The majority of your readers aren't glazing you every article, but the fact they return shows they view the content favorably. You can clearly see that most of the comments on your articles range from neutral to critical insights.
I commented on LGBTQIA+ rights specifically because you have one of the largest independent platforms in the aviation industry. Therefore I see value in saying something since I believe that you are amenable and sympathetic towards calling for justice in these situations. You can at least acknowledge that nothing I've said here is incorrect or counterfactual. I'm certainly not the only one with this opinion either.
I can accept the feedback and try to comment more positive things in the future. But I would also strongly recommend you consider an article discussing your views on ethical consumption and promotion. This would greatly clarify your stance in the future.
@ Yoloswag420 -- Hey, that's a fair response, and I appreciate that. It's nice to actually have a constructive dialogue.
I think the only point that we're differing on is that I've covered those exact topics before for Qatar Airways, and I'm vocal in expressing my disapproval of those kinds of policies. Just as I commend Qatar Airways for what it does well, over the years I've also covered the policies that I strongly...
@ Yoloswag420 -- Hey, that's a fair response, and I appreciate that. It's nice to actually have a constructive dialogue.
I think the only point that we're differing on is that I've covered those exact topics before for Qatar Airways, and I'm vocal in expressing my disapproval of those kinds of policies. Just as I commend Qatar Airways for what it does well, over the years I've also covered the policies that I strongly disagree with, and I don't mince words.
Could I mention them in every post about the airline? I mean, I could. But I also think that if I've covered them already, then it detracts from the core of a particular topic (which in this case is the financial results of an airline, rather than a country or carrier's record on human rights).
Let me see regarding what I can do on a story with my stance on ethical consumption of travel, as it's an interesting topic...
Most of us who read these articles are well travelled and well aware of what is going on in different countries or/and companies. Ben, you do not have to cover every single social issue, they are covered elsewhere well enough.
It is great to read the news about airlines, hotels etc., and thank you for having these web pages.
I've been coming here for years, to escape, to aspire and to dream and sometimes get helpful tips on my trips. A lot of my aspirational travel plans involve ME carriers. Please, double please do not have morality sermons on your beautiful blog. You will ruin your blog and spoil our little escape garden.
Ben has discussed this stuff pretty extensively in the past, if you're new here you may not realize that, but that's not Ben's fault. He didn't mention it in this post because it's not the point of this post, he's not required to write an essay on the entire history of Qatar any time there is news to report about Qatar.
Also, if he did do that then he'd have just as many people...
Ben has discussed this stuff pretty extensively in the past, if you're new here you may not realize that, but that's not Ben's fault. He didn't mention it in this post because it's not the point of this post, he's not required to write an essay on the entire history of Qatar any time there is news to report about Qatar.
Also, if he did do that then he'd have just as many people (more, actually) upset about that as he does not posting about it, you see a lot of "I don't come here for politics talk" comments a lot any time something even mildly related to social commentary comes up. So lighten up, shut up, and realize that unless you're writing Ben a check he's not required to write the articles you want him to write, the rest of us are perfectly happy with the content, especially since he has already covered with you've already complained about, and got tons of flack for that too.
You shouldn’t be so sensitive about what a commentator has to say. You are good at what you do. Really.
Call me a caveman, but I have zero interest in reading Geo-Morality lectures on OMAAT. Any even barely thinking person knows that hatred and oppression are wrong. If they don’t, that’s their problem and they’ll pay a heavy spiritual price for it. It’s not our business, it’s theirs. What I love about OMAAT is that it’s a celebration of travel, which is one of the most fun, mind-and soul-expanding, relationship-building and liberating opportunities in life....
Call me a caveman, but I have zero interest in reading Geo-Morality lectures on OMAAT. Any even barely thinking person knows that hatred and oppression are wrong. If they don’t, that’s their problem and they’ll pay a heavy spiritual price for it. It’s not our business, it’s theirs. What I love about OMAAT is that it’s a celebration of travel, which is one of the most fun, mind-and soul-expanding, relationship-building and liberating opportunities in life. Who wants OMAAT to be deadened by constant lectures about international social injustices? We want it to be about our passion, which is travel. Getting to places, in an exciting and aspirational way, and then enjoying those places. Yoloswag420, if you want social injustice story lines, go read the news. Or, if you feel so strongly about Qatar’s position on things, then go protest in the streets of Doha. Why does your fight have to be anyone else’s fight? Go fight your fight, and let others fight theirs, should they wish to. Alternatively, go start a Geo-Morality web site and see how well you do. You’ll be bankrupt in a month, because no one will care one bit about your Geo-Morality lectures and self-righteous grandstandings. Why do people constantly lecture Ben on what he “must” do? Particularly when he has a web site that the non-trolls love? Go do your own thing, Yoloswag420, and leave OMAAT alone. We couldn’t care less what you think, armchair critic, sermonizer and know it all.