Speech delivered by Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson on Thursday 27 August 2026.

Check Delivery

Good morning,

Thank you to everyone here in the room, and to those joining us online.

A particular thank you to our team members here today. This year asked a lot of you, and these results reflect your effort.

And our customers noticed. Our operational performance was world-leading and customer satisfaction reached its highest level in a decade, despite record fuel costs and global disruption from the conflict in the Middle East.

We came through it with a strong result, which is what allows us to continue investing in the largest fleet renewal in our history and deliver more for our customers, people and shareholders.

These results again show the value of our dual brand strategy.

Qantas grew at the premium end of the market, while Jetstar went from strength to strength, continuing to deliver value for customers, when many are feeling cost of living pressures. Around half of Jetstar’s customers travelled for under $150. Last week, Jetstar fares from Western Sydney to the Gold Coast were available for $34, which in many cases is less than the taxi or Uber to the airport.

Qantas Loyalty also strengthened, growing to nearly 19 million members. They booked a record five million flight reward seats and earned and redeemed more points through partners including Uber, Ticketek and David Jones.

But it was very much a year of two parts.

The year began with both Qantas and Jetstar performing strongly, with demand growing across our domestic and international networks.

As fuel prices surged to record highs, we moved quickly, adjusting capacity and fares, and redeploying aircraft to Europe as demand grew.

Our fuel bill was $610 million higher than expected, but our response reduced the net impact to $420 million.

Despite these pressures, our operations and people did not miss a beat.

Qantas Domestic had its best on-time performance in seven years.

In June, Qantas was the most on-time airline in the world and we were ranked in the top three globally for five months. An incredible effort by our teams. This flowed through to our customer satisfaction scores, which were at their highest level in a decade in June.

Jetstar’s reliability was also strong, helping deliver its highest ever customer satisfaction score as more customers experienced new aircraft.

We launched Qantas Economy Plus, offering more legroom than standard Economy. It is now on almost all 737s, the new A321XLRs and A220s, and goes live on A330s next month.

23 new routes launched across the Group, with Jetstar adding another one this week from Melbourne to Colombo.

All of this helped the airline's reputational score reach its highest level in four years.

Our people are the key driver of these results.

A few months ago, I was sitting on a domestic flight when a customer tapped me on the shoulder.

She handed me a note on the back of her boarding pass. It said thank you. I've noticed the difference. I have heard the same from many customers: they can feel the difference in how our people are showing up.

I am pleased we can share our success with our people, with around 25,000 employees again receiving $1,000 of Qantas shares through our Employee Ownership Plan.

We've also created nearly 4,400 new operational roles in Australia since 2023 and will create thousands more as we grow our network and fleet.

And, to support that growth, we're investing in training and upskilling our people.

Our new emergency procedures centre that we are opening here in Mascot will train more than 10,000 pilots and cabin crew each year. We look forward to showing media through it after this press conference.

These investments are preparing our teams for the arrival of new aircraft.

We welcomed 17 new aircraft during the year and will take delivery of up to 31 this financial year, including our first Project Sunrise A350. Demand for long-haul routes and premium cabins continues to grow, as does our confidence in Project Sunrise.

Alongside the 12 Project Sunrise aircraft, the Group has firm orders for 12 more A350s and 12 787s. The first additional 787s arrive next year with the next evolution of our Business suite, offering more space, sliding privacy doors and larger entertainment screens. More details have been released with today’s results, along with the A321XLR lie flat Business Suite.

We are also in discussions with Airbus and Boeing about converting around 20 of our existing options to firm orders from 2030. This will enable us to gradually phase out the A380 from 2028.

I was in Toulouse when we collected our first A380 from Airbus in 2008, and I can still remember the excitement. Since then those aircraft have carried millions of customers around the world, and they remain a favourite.

A few months ago I was back in Toulouse, this time to see our first A350 in Qantas livery. The reaction to this aircraft and Project Sunrise has been like nothing I have seen. The first aircraft arrives in Australia in April and flies non-stop Sydney to London from October. Customers are going to love them.

The Qantas Group enters the new financial year in a strong position, with a diversified portfolio, a strong balance sheet and clear momentum across the business.

Demand remains resilient, intention to travel is high, and the investments we are making in our fleet, product and people position us well for the years ahead.

Most importantly, we will keep building on this progress. Delivering for our customers, creating opportunities for our people, and generating value for our shareholders.

Thank you.