Qatar Airways has said it suffered more than four billion US dollars loss in revenues over the last year, as lockdowns triggered by the coronavirus pandemic slashed demand for long-haul travel.
The major loss, which the state-owned airline largely attributed to the grounding of its Airbus A380 and A330 wide-body jets, highlights the dramatic toll the pandemic has taken on the industry.
Even so, the airline reported an increase in earnings to 1.6 billion US dollars before taxes and other costs compared to the previous year.
The long-haul carrier based in the energy-rich Gulf Arab state of Qatar nonetheless praised its resilience in the face of the fast-spreading virus variants still traversing the globe, noting that its operational loss of 288 million US dollars (£210 million) stood at 7% less than the year before.
The airline acknowledged receiving a three billion US dollars lifeline from the Qatari government as it struggled with virus restrictions.
The other two biggest carriers in the region that depend on lucrative long-haul routes, Dubai-based Emirates and Abu Dhabi-based Etihad, also posted significant losses over the past year.
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