- Australia's Qantas Airways posted an annual profit of $1.7 billion on Thursday.
- Employees are being rewarded with a share of a bonus pot worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Qantas Airways is giving about 21,000 workers a share of a bonus pot worth hundreds of millions of dollars after posting its first annual profit since 2019.
The Australian airline, which also owns Jetstar, posted a pre-tax profit of about $1.6 billion – an impressive recovery after reporting an even larger loss the previous year.
The post-pandemic recovery reflected surging demand for air travel, higher fares, cheaper fuel and a reduction in other costs.
"Flight delays and cancellations have largely returned to pre-COVID levels and we've shifted from heavy losses to a strong profit and pipeline of investment worth billions of dollars," CEO Alan Joyce said in a statement Thursday.
He said Qantas staff had "done a superb job under very difficult circumstances."
In 2021 about 21,000 staff were given shares in Qantas that can now be cashed in and are worth about $3,850.
They're also getting a cash payment worth about $3,200 as new workplace agreements are finalised, and a travel credit worth about $320. That totals almost $7,400.
The workplace agreements are largely related to orders for 24 planes from Airbus and Boeing due to start being delivered in 2027.
Qantas is not the only company to share out its wealth among employees. In May Singapore Airlines gave its staff a bonus equivalent to eight months' salary after posting healthy profits.
Joyce rejected calls for the airline to repay pandemic-era government subsidies worth about $1.7 billion following its return to financial health.
He told ABC TV's "7.30 Report" that the best approach was making higher profits and start to pay corporation tax again, which he expected to happen from 2025.