In just 12 months, Qantas roars back into black

Underlying profit before tax – Qantas’ preferred measure of financial performance, which excludes one-off costs and write-downs – was Aus$975 million, compared to a Aus$646 million loss a year earlier.

Qantas Airways Ltd posted one of the quickest turnarounds in Australian corporate history on Thursday with a return to full-year profit and announced it will exercise options to buy eight Boeing Co 787-9 Dreamliner jets.

Qantas said it would order eight 787-9s, with the first four to arrive in the 2017/18 financial year and the next four in 2018/19. It also brings Qantas close to the psychologically important A$1 billion mark last reached in 2008.

The statement says “The driving force behind the result was progress with the Qantas Transformation program, which realised $894 million in transformation benefits during the year and saw Qantas meet its target of paying down more than $1 billion in net debt”.

“We looked at both types of aircraft, on what the relative positions of the A350 and Boeing 787 were” admitted Qantas CEO Alan Joyce at the recent CAPA 2015 Australia Pacific Aviation Summit in Sydney, “and we found on all accounts the 787-9 was the better aircraft for us, for the market that we’re talking about and the network that we’re talking about”.

“Without that transformation, we would not be reporting this strong profit, recommencing shareholder returns, or announcing our ultra-efficient Dreamliner fleet for Qantas worldwide”.

The company said it would return cash to shareholders by paying 23 cents a share, a total of A$505m.

All of the airline’s businesses reported stronger earnings for the year, including its long-troubled global division, which made a $764 million year-on-year turnaround.

All of Qantas’s operating segments were profitable in 2014/15.

Jetstar recorded underlying earnings of $230m, up from a $116m loss a year ago.

While Qantas did not offer profit guidance for the first half of 2015/16, the company did offer some capacity forecasts for the period ahead.

The ASX announcements will be followed by a media conference later this morning.