Qantas Airways shares have jumped after the carrier said it expects first-half profit before tax to be as much as $150 million.

Qantas shares rose as much as 4.7 per cent in early trade, and were recently up 10 cents, or 3.6 per cent, to $2.84. It was the biggest gain among 200 stocks in Australia’s benchmark index.

Passenger volumes and yields, a measure of revenue per passenger, have improved since the second half of last fiscal year, the airline said this morning.

‘‘Operating conditions have improved when compared to the second half of the 2008/09 financial year,’’ the statement said. ‘‘High levels of volatility in the economic outlook, industry capacity, passenger demand, fuel prices and exchange rates continue.’’

Qantas booked profit after tax of $210 million for the first half of fiscal 2009, to December 31, 2008. The airline reported net profit of $117 million for the full year to June 30, 2009, down 88 per cent from the prior corresponding period.

Qantas declined to provide a profit outlook for 2010 at its annual general meeting in October.

In its update today, Qantas said group passengers in the year to November were up 6.9 per cent on the prior year.

While passenger kilometres flown were up 1.1 per cent, seats available were down 2.5 per cent. The revenue seat factor of 82.5 per cent was 2.9 percentage points higher than the prior corresponding period.

The yield on Qantas’s domestic operations, excluding foreign exchange, in the financial year to November, was 8.9 per cent lower compared with the corresponding period last year.

The yield on international travel, also excluding foreign exchange, was down 23.2 per cent compared with the prior corresponding period.
source: The age