Qatar Airways Group has reported the strongest financial performance in its 27-year history, with record profits of USD 1.7 billion in its Annual Report for the 2023/24 financial year. This number represents a 6% increase of USD 1.3 billion compared to last year.
The airline also generated a strong EBITDA margin of 24% at USD 5.2 billion, around USD 0.3 billion higher than the previous year. The improvement reflects the business’s continued focus on customer experience, innovation, digitalisation and sustainability, resulting in streamlined, agile and fit-for-purpose operations across all areas.
This has created a strong platform for the future of the Group’s airline business which carried more than 40 million passengers during the 2023/24 fiscal, an increase of 26% over the previous year. As a result, passenger revenue increased by 19%, with a capacity increase of 21% driven by the airline’s highest-ever load factor of 83 per cent, offering a sustainable upsurge in market share.
Speaking at the annual report release, Minister of State for Energy and Qatar Airways Group Chairman, H.E. Engineer Saad Bin Sharida Al-Kaabi, said, “This latest remarkable annual performance demonstrates Qatar Airways Group’s flexibility and resilience in successfully navigating a constantly evolving global travel industry, and indicates a strong and sustained rebound from the challenges faced by the sector in recent years.”
As it celebrates its milestone 20th year of operation in 2024, Qatar Airways Cargo maintained its position as the world’s leading air cargo carrier, forging ahead with a strategic focus on digitalisation, sustainability and growth. This contributed towards an increase in Cargo’s market share to 7.1% in 2023/24, up by 0.04% compared to previous financial year.
Additionally, Qatar Airways’ network grew to more than 170 destinations in 2023/24, adding Al Ula, Neom and Tabuk, in Saudi Arabia; Lyon and Toulouse, France, Medan, Indonesia and Trabzon, Turkey throughout the year. This is in addition to the resumption of operations to 14 destinations, including Bahrain, Bahrain, Birmingham, UK, Beijing, Chengdu and Chongqing, China, Davao, Philippines,Tokyo Haneda and Osaka, Japan.