Preflight

Making hay

Qantas gets ratings lift after big first half profit

Ratings agency Moody’s has lifted its assessment of Qantas stock back to investment grade, after the airline group delivered a bumper first half profit.

On February 23, Qantas reported statutory net profit after tax for the six months to December 31 2015 of $688 million, more than three times the $203 million in the prior corresponding half, led by its cost-cutting transformation program, and an international division “going gangbusters” as the lower currency fuelled demand for travel into Australia and alliance partners funnelled passengers onto a domestic network that also posted strong profit growth.