Qantas Group has announced $1.46 billion in underlying profit before tax in the first half of FY26, up $71 million year-on-year.

Qantas and Jetstar continued to see sustained growth in travel demand across the domestic market, as well as the benefits of fleet renewal, which helped the group's domestic operations deliver $1.05 billion in underlying EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes), an increase of 14 per cent year-on-year.

Qantas Domestic's revenue increased by five per cent, supported by a four per cent increase in capacity. This was underpinned by six per cent passenger revenue growth in business-purpose travel, particularly small and medium sized businesses, as well as nine per cent passenger revenue growth from premium leisure travel.

Jetstar’s domestic operations carried more than 8.5 million passengers during the period, helping it to deliver a 38 per cent increase in underlying EBIT. This result was driven by strong leisure demand.

Qantas International saw increased demand for flights from the US to Australia. However, the Group said this had not offset reduced demand in Economy for flights from Australia to the US. In response, Qantas is adjusting some US schedules.

Jetstar’s international business performed strongly, with earnings from its Australian international airline up nine per cent. The airline carried almost 600,000 more customers to and from Australia in the six months to December.

Supporting this growth, the delivery of two more A321LRs during the period enabled increased flying on popular routes and the launch of new routes including Denpasar-Newcastle.

The Group ended the half with $12.6 billion of liquidity, including $1.8 billion in cash, $1.2 billion in committed undrawn facilities and $9.6 billion in unencumbered fleet and other assets.

Qantas said it expects strong travel demand to continue across the portfolio in the second half of FY26.

Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson said: "As we enter an exciting new era for the Qantas Group, our focus continues to be on delivering for our customers, employees and shareholders. By consistently delivering strong earnings growth we're able to continue investing in the largest fleet renewal in our history.

“We're already seeing the benefits from the next generation aircraft that are flying, which along with strong demand, our dual brand strategy and expanding Loyalty business, helped us deliver another strong result.

"These new aircraft are not only improving the experience for our customers and opening up new opportunities for our people, they’re also helping drive our financial performance.

"Around 60 per cent of Jetstar's increase in profitability in the half was driven by its new aircraft, through a combination of growth, new network opportunities and the redeployment of existing aircraft onto other routes.

"This gives us confidence in the benefits that will flow once Qantas’ new aircraft reach scale. We've already started to see an acceleration in deliveries for Qantas, with six new aircraft arriving in the half and a further 30 arriving over the next 18 months.

"Some of these new aircraft will replace older aircraft, while some will support growth by opening up new routes, like the ultra long range A350s, which will operate Project Sunrise flights."

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