Australia's long-haul flagship carrier Qantas Airways said sales were pummelled in the second half of its financial year in 2020 as international travel dried up with borders effectively closed to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Border closures meant we lost virtually 100% of our international flying and 70% of our domestic flying," Qantas Group CEO Rodney Joyce told a press conference. "Three-quarters of our revenue, around $7 billion, went with it."
Qantas is the latest major long-haul carrier to report further hefty losses because of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, with other regional carriers Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific also reeling, and without the backup of a domestic travel market like countries such as the U.S., India and China.
Qantas lost nearly A$1.1bn ($870 million) in the second half of 2020, with the financial year sent to end on June 30, 2021. Sales slipped A$6.9bn in the period.
Australia also saw a second wave of COVID-19 infections in Victoria in the second half that disrupted domestic schedules, leading to the 70% drop in internal flights noted by Joyce.
The Australian government has said international travel in and out of Australia would not resume in any significant measure until 2022 at the earliest, with the country this week just rolling out a vaccination campaign based on the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
