Qatar Airways has just revealed its results for the 2022-2023 financial year (April 1, 2022, through March 31, 2023), and they’re mostly pretty impressive. This follows the airline reporting a record profit the year before, and a record loss the year before that. The industry has had a few interesting years, eh?
In this post:
Qatar Airways 2022-2023 financial results
Qatar Airways has had quite the year, as Doha hosted the 2022 FIFA World Cup. What did that mean for the country’s airline? In the 2022-2023 financial year:
- Qatar Airways reported a net profit of $1.21 billion, compared to $1.54 billion the year before
- Qatar Airways reported revenue of $21 billion (the highest in the company’s history), compared to $14.4 billion the year before
- Qatar Airways carried 31.7 million passengers, compared to 18.5 million the year before
- Qatar Airways saw a 100% increase in passenger, while capacity increased by only 31%
- The airline saw a 9% increase in yield and an 80% load factor, both of which are the highest the airline has achieved in its history
- Qatar Airways generated an EBITDA margin of 23% at $4.9 billion, which is $30.2 million higher than the year before
Here’s how Qatar Airways Group CEO Akbar Al Baker describes the results:
“This year’s strong financial results are attributed to the strong passenger demand recovery and the team’s ability to cater to this demand, aided by our continuing network growth, market leadership, and the operational efficiencies delivered by our world beating team. Profitability has been driven by a 100 per cent increase in passenger revenues in the last year. Load factors exceeding 80 per cent, and the current yield levels are the highest in our history. As the global travel recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic continues, we have managed to retain the high levels of trust, reliability and confidence with our customers. As a result, we maintained our position as the airline of choice for millions of passengers worldwide and our team carried 31.7 million passengers, which is an increase of 71 per cent over last year.”
My take on Qatar Airways’ financial results
Qatar Airways did an amazing job navigating the pandemic. The airline maintained its route network in a way that no other airline did, and did an amazing keeping the world connected with just one stop in Doha.
These financial results from Qatar Airways are of course great — it’s impressive to see record revenue, record load factors, and record yields.
And while a $1.21 billion profit is impressive, I’m trying to figure out what I’m missing in terms of the 2022-2023 performance, compared to the performance in the previous financial year?
Overall revenue increased by 45%, passenger revenue increased by 100%, passenger numbers increased by 71%, and capacity only increased by 31%… yet profits decreased by a bit over 20%?
I don’t actually see the full report published yet, so it’s hard to dig too deep into this. My guess is that cargo revenue was just down considerably. Cargo was really strong for airlines in the first couple of years of the pandemic, and that’s especially true for Qatar Airways, given the extent to which it maintained its network.
That’s the most logical explanation I can come up with, but even that doesn’t necessarily seem like it would add up? I mean, revenue was nearly $7 billion higher than the previous year, yet capacity only increased by 31%, so you’d think that would translate to better margins, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Are there some other one-time expenses I’m missing, or…?
Can Gulf carrier financial results be trusted?
When it comes to Gulf carrier financial results, people are often skeptical. After all, these airlines are government owned, and the major US carriers spent years trying to discredit the Gulf carriers (fortunately that’s not the case anymore).
So, can these results be trusted? I’d say yes, but perspective is important. Of course economics are a bit different when the government owns not just the airline, but also the airport, and on top of that has the ability to provide financing at a scale and at rates that other airlines may not have access to.
For that matter, US airlines have benefited very nicely from some government subsidies in the past few years, and in some quarters that payroll support was the difference between airlines losing or making money.
Bottom line
Qatar Airways has announced its 2022-2023 financial results. It was a big year for the airline, given that Qatar hosted the FIFA World Cup. Qatar Airways ended up reporting record revenue, yields, and load factors, and also reported a strong profit. However, the profit wasn’t as strong as the year prior, despite some otherwise very impressive growth.
What do you make of Qatar Airways’ financial results?
Why do airlines have so inexperienced pilots flying their planes
How about the airbus lawsuit and the grounded A350s due to the “pain” concerns.. that would’ve cost their pockets surely..
My take is that they improved service by hiring more staff and improved overall offering to passengers, like food and refreshments, resulting in increased cost.
The positive effect of these moves is that they are pulling away farther from their competitors.
Or because they had to give billions to airbus to settle the dispute ?
Without being able to dive into the details, the missing factor is costs. Remember that QATAR took their A350's out of service and had to replace them with leased aircraft from other sources. So the leased aircraft would be more expensive to operate while at the same time Qatar would also be paying for the A350's sitting idle.
Problems with how they handled the replacement (CX) equipment, such as when they screwed up my Q...
Without being able to dive into the details, the missing factor is costs. Remember that QATAR took their A350's out of service and had to replace them with leased aircraft from other sources. So the leased aircraft would be more expensive to operate while at the same time Qatar would also be paying for the A350's sitting idle.
Problems with how they handled the replacement (CX) equipment, such as when they screwed up my Q Suites ticket because of aircraft change, will haunt them. They have lost my business until they send compensation for the extra ticket.
Why don't you read the full report instead of guess? Perhaps lower profit comes from people paying less or redeeming points for seats.
The full report isn't out yet. How about you READ the post before commenting all high and mighty. Lastly, points redemption wouldn't account for this much "missing" profit.
Wow, the Al Baker hate club is out in force today!
Whichever way you look at it a profit is a profit; they don't need to conform to the higher and higher profits every year American corporations have as their only measure of success.
Greedflation is not good for anyone in the long run.
Not sure how much this contributed, but QR ran a month of Match Day shuttle flights between Doha (both DOH and DIA) and various neighboring countries for World Cup fans to fly in for the day to see games, as Qatar had insufficient lodging capacity. The ticket prices were fixed by authorities.
This is probably very much a contributing factor. The match day shuttle services were significantly cheaper than typical inter-gulf travel. I live in Dubai, worked in Riyadh at the time and the tickets were discounted for the games. Not a spare seat on the flights I took to/from Doha during the World Cup and each was at least a 777 compared to other smaller equipment used either side of the event
Here's some analysis (not speculation!) comparing what was in their press release vs. their previous years annual report.
EBITDA was very slightly higher than the previous year. Given that revenues were up 45%, easy conclusion that costs ballooned. Which costs? We'll have to wait for the financial statements!
Given that EBITDA was slightly higher, but profits were lower (4.4b vs 5.6b QAR), their combined interest, depreciation & amortization had to have jumped. How much?...
Here's some analysis (not speculation!) comparing what was in their press release vs. their previous years annual report.
EBITDA was very slightly higher than the previous year. Given that revenues were up 45%, easy conclusion that costs ballooned. Which costs? We'll have to wait for the financial statements!
Given that EBITDA was slightly higher, but profits were lower (4.4b vs 5.6b QAR), their combined interest, depreciation & amortization had to have jumped. How much? Again, we'll have to wait for the financial statements!
Also, as Kane Foley noted below, it's the entire conglomerate's results, not just the airline!
Keep it up
The point you are missing is that these are not Qatar Airways (the airline profit numbers). It is actually the entire Qatar Airways Group.
If you see the 2022 Annual Report slides 16/17 will tell you which companies make up the group and are part of the annual financials.
Also unlike Emirates Group which actually publishes Emirates Airline and DNATA annual financial results seperately in its annual report, the Qatar Airways group does not do so in the same manner.
Well, start cost cutting.
Bring yourself down to the level of garbage US airlines, and boom, profits!
These results simply show that QR is deeply discounting to fill seats; any year over year result than uses a covid-year as comparison will show strong improvement, including yield.
And while western airlines including those in the US were heavily subsidized, the Gulf carriers ability to shift costs between government controlled and/or owned entities is unchanged and is the root of why the Gulf carriers' financial results have to be viewed with a grain of...
These results simply show that QR is deeply discounting to fill seats; any year over year result than uses a covid-year as comparison will show strong improvement, including yield.
And while western airlines including those in the US were heavily subsidized, the Gulf carriers ability to shift costs between government controlled and/or owned entities is unchanged and is the root of why the Gulf carriers' financial results have to be viewed with a grain of desert sand.
It’s safe to say that things have never been worse at Qatar Airways. Staff morale is at an all time low and Al Baker is to blame. He will forever be remembered with a tarnished legacy. Someone needs to do an exposé on how he treats QR Cabin Crew, controlling their lives and abusing their human rights. Once someone starts chipping away at the creepy iceberg of Akbar Al Baker, they will have an award...
It’s safe to say that things have never been worse at Qatar Airways. Staff morale is at an all time low and Al Baker is to blame. He will forever be remembered with a tarnished legacy. Someone needs to do an exposé on how he treats QR Cabin Crew, controlling their lives and abusing their human rights. Once someone starts chipping away at the creepy iceberg of Akbar Al Baker, they will have an award winning exposé on their hands. They just need to begin by asking the question…what has he been doing at the W Doha hotel?
Al Baker is a big clown. He just likes to micromanage and rule by fear. He likes to hire cabin crew from poor countries so he know they’ll obey him.
During the pandemic he introduced solidarity pay: employees saw their salaries being cut by 25-50%. In order to preserve jobs. Meanwhile they’ve fired whoever they liked.
Last year QR made about 1.5 billion dollar profit. Solidarity pay wasn’t paid back.
This year QR made 1.2...
Al Baker is a big clown. He just likes to micromanage and rule by fear. He likes to hire cabin crew from poor countries so he know they’ll obey him.
During the pandemic he introduced solidarity pay: employees saw their salaries being cut by 25-50%. In order to preserve jobs. Meanwhile they’ve fired whoever they liked.
Last year QR made about 1.5 billion dollar profit. Solidarity pay wasn’t paid back.
This year QR made 1.2 billion dollar profit. No sign of the solidarity pay being paid back.
In the meanwhile they sponsor every sportsteam in the world and charter J Lo for a private concert. Apparently they have an expensive bollywood star as their brand ambassador, typical. For comparison: Emirates has Penelope:)
Akbar WHERE IS OUR FUCKING MONEY
Are you from a poor country?
Instead of speculating why profits weren't at a record, might I suggest getting both year's income statements and comparing them?
@ Never In Doubt -- As I explained in the post: "I don’t actually see the full report published yet, so it’s hard to dig too deep into this." It's possible I'm missing something, but the most recent report published on Qatar's website is for 2021-2022.
Exactly! Wait until the financials are online, then analyze them instead of speculating!
Their FY ending March 2022 financials are online. Their FY ending March 2023 financials (covered by the press release) will likely be online very soon. It's typical that the press release precedes the details being released.
And why such a cheap bonus for Qatar Airways staff? Only 5 weeks for QR staff compared to EK with six months and SQ with 6-8 months. After one of the most iconic years in the airline’s history (25th anniversary and FIFA World Cup), they cheap out on recognizing their people’s tireless efforts. Sounds like poor leadership at QR that doesn’t even value it’s people in the slightest.
Akbar Al Baker has never been a strong leader, so a shamefully small bonus for a cash rich airline like QR is not surprising. He’s out of touch and living in denial/La La land, but I’m sure the execs will get a great bonus. Talk about a CEO going down in flames. What an embarrassment.