Australian airline Qantas Airways Ltd
(ASX:QAN) has reported an 88 per cent fall in full year net profit this morning, and announced plans to cut costs by $1.5 billion over the next three years.
The new cost reduction program called Q Future, will target $1.5 billion in permanent savings over the three years, starting with a target of $500 million in the current financial year.
The airline posted net profit for the year of $117 million, down from a profit of $969 million a year earlier.
Sales for the 12 months to June 30 fell 6.9 per cent to $14.55 billion.
Qantas says there are signs of an improvement in passenger numbers, and that yields have stabilised at levels experienced in the second half of the 2009 financial year.
However the airline says high levels of volatility in the economic outlook, industry capacity, passenger demand, fuel prices and exchange rates continue, and given the high level of uncertainty it is not possible to provide any profit guidance.
Qantas says it will not pay a dividend for the year. Qantas’ 2008 net profit reached close to $1 billion, its best result in the last five years.
