Airline Economics & Industry Financial Analysis

Qantas 2025 H1 Data And Fleet Modernization Progress

Good news for Qantas! 2025 FY H1 comes with positive results - The airline continues to rebuild its public image and takes delivery of more new aircraft.

By Alex Achille

Qantas has gone through some tough years. Goings have been rough in terms of public image, employee relations and financially. However, things are seemingly starting to look better as the new group CEO (Vanessa Hudson) is steering the ship to calmer waters. Financial results for 2025FY's H1 are in and they have a positive note to them all while fleet modernization moves forward and Project Sunrise's launch date draws closer. Let me drive you through all this latest Qantas related news.

Qantas Positive Financial Results For 2025's H1 – First Dividends Paid Since 2019

Looking at the balance sheet things are looking rather good for Qantas. The airline is getting back to the basics and strengthening, once again, its position as the dominant force in Australian aviation, despite seeing some clouds on the horizon with the Qatar Airways-Virgin partnership.

A Qantas Airbus A330 with its iconic red tail featuring the flying kangaroo logo and 'Spirit of Australia' livery parked alongside a Jetstar Airbus A320 with its distinctive orange star logo at Changi International Airport in Singapore during a rainy day. The wet tarmac reflects both aircraft. The Qantas Group is working on strengthening its financial position with its ongoing fleet modernization efforts highlighted in their positive H1 2025FY results.
A Qantas Airbus A330 with its iconic red tail featuring the flying kangaroo logo and ‘Spirit of Australia' livery parked alongside a Jetstar Airbus A320 with its distinctive orange star logo at Changi International Airport in Singapore during a rainy day. The wet tarmac reflects both aircraft. The Qantas Group is working on strengthening its financial position with its ongoing fleet modernization efforts highlighted in their positive H1 2025FY results.

Qantas closed the first half of the 2025 fiscal year, which in Australia starts on July 1st and ends on June 30th, on December 31st 2024 with 1.39$ Billion (AUD) in earnings before taxes, up by 11% over H1 of 2024. That translates to 923$ (AUD) million after taxes up by 6% over H1 2024. A result that puts the Aussie airline on track for a strong end of FY result.

Something that will get a smile on shareholders' faces is the fact that, for the first time since 2019 the national carrier will be issuing a dividend payment of 26.4 cents per share.

Looking away from tangible and cold numbers, a lot of work is going into rebuilding the airlines image among the general public and the workforce. Reason for me to say that is, that internally the company has issued a thank you, bonus payment of sorts, to 27,000 non-executive employees in December. A gesture to reconcile with the workforce after years of head to head battles between them and management. This is a more tangible action after getting the staff involved in the uniform re-design (I talked about that on my other site).

Close-up view of a Qantas aircraft vertical stabilizer featuring the airline's distinctive red tail with the white kangaroo logo. The tail fin displays the letters 'FR' at the top, and part of the aircraft wing and airport grounds are visible in the background under a partly cloudy sky.
Close-up view of a Qantas aircraft vertical stabilizer featuring the airline's distinctive red tail with the white kangaroo logo. The tail fin displays the letters ‘FR' at the top, and part of the aircraft wing and airport grounds are visible in the background under a partly cloudy sky.

While to reconcile with the general public, the airline has worked on not increasing its fares. Qantas Group (Qantas and Jetstar) fares, which in far too many cases over the past few years have been overpriced, grew much slower than inflation and on international fights actually declined.

Re-Investing in New Generation High Efficiency Aircraft – First A350-1000ULR Coming Soon

Thanks to these results the Qantas Group maintained its debt level constant and is able to reinvest in modernizing and making its fleet more efficient and competitive both on long and short-haul services.

The airline has received 11 new aircraft in the first half of the year and is expected to receive further 7 units by June 30th 2025.

A newly manufactured Qantas Airbus A321XLR on the tarmac at the Airbus assembly plant in Hamburg, Germany. The aircraft displays the white fuselage with 'QANTAS' and 'Spirit of Australia' livery and characteristic red tail with white kangaroo logo. The plane is shown without its engines installed, having just received its paint job. A yellow ground support vehicle is positioned near the aircraft's front landing gear. The scene is set against a bright blue sky with scattered clouds.
A newly manufactured Qantas Airbus A321XLR on the tarmac at the Airbus assembly plant in Hamburg, Germany. The aircraft displays the white fuselage with ‘QANTAS' and ‘Spirit of Australia' livery and characteristic red tail with white kangaroo logo. The plane is shown without its engines installed, having just received its paint job. A yellow ground support vehicle is positioned near the aircraft's front landing gear. The scene is set against a bright blue sky with scattered clouds.

Among those 7 new airplanes scheduled to arrive is Qantas' very first Airbus A321XLR. An aircraft which is flipping on its head the whole concept of long-haul operations, making many new routes capable of turning a profit. The Australian airline is among the first in the world to get one of these state-of-the-art new jets. I am personally extremely curious to see which flights it will deploy them on. Currently it is getting it's paint applied and will soon enter final testing before delivery.

Two more A220s will also arrive before June is up, an aircraft expected to create a 9$ million (AUD) before tax benefit per unit. That is a massive number and improvement over the Boeing 717s it's replacing.

The first Qantas Airbus A220 Livery

Lastly the most exciting piece of news regarding upcoming Qantas aircraft deliveries. The very first Airbus A350-1000ULR is scheduled to enter final assembly in September 2025. A long testing phase will follow with the aircraft designated to power Project Sunrise operations arriving “down under” in the second half of 2026 (calendar year). Project Sunrise is the massively ambitious plan Qantas has to operate non-stop direct flights from the Australian east coast to destinations such as London and New York. By far these will become Qantas' longest routes.

A Qantas Airbus A380 superjumbo captured during landing approach at Los Angeles (LAX) airport, photographed from below against a clear blue sky. The aircraft's four engines and distinctive red tail with white kangaroo logo are visible, along with the 'QANTAS' text on the white fuselage. The landing gear is deployed as the massive double-deck aircraft flies over green trees, highlighting the scale of this aircraft that Qantas plans to bring back into full service according to their fleet modernization strategy.
A Qantas Airbus A380 superjumbo captured during landing approach at Los Angeles (LAX) airport, photographed from below against a clear blue sky. The aircraft's four engines and distinctive red tail with white kangaroo logo are visible, along with the ‘QANTAS' text on the white fuselage. The landing gear is deployed as the massive double-deck aircraft flies over green trees, highlighting the scale of this aircraft that Qantas plans to bring back into full service according to their fleet modernization strategy.

Qantas Bringing Back Into Operation The Last of Its Airbus A380s

If you're an A380 lover or enthusiast, I've got news that will get you in a good mood for the day. With strong demand for travel holding up, Qantas has also decided to bring back into service the remaining two Airbus A380s it has in desert storage:

  • VH-OQC – named Paul McGinness
  • VH-OQL – named Phyllis Arnott

The ball will be rolling pretty fast for these two planes. They will rapidly be recommissioned to re-enter service by the end of the 2025 calendar year. If you wonder where Qantas flies its mighty A380s I've got you covered with this other post of mine that you can check out.

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Alex Achille
Alex Achille
Ex Emirates Cabin Crew and long time aviation enthusiast. I can remember loving aviation and planes since I was a very little boy. I have developed my passion into a deep knowledge of the sector and industry to offer on my sites in depth and precise analyses of what is going on. I also completed cabin crew training with Ryanair, however, I never worked for the company (more on that another time). Finally I also have taken flying lessons completing my first solo flights.

1 COMMENT

  1. Considering what’s happened over the years, they’ve done well! One of the hardest airlines during Covid too!

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