Qatar Airways reports $69 million annual loss in wake of Gulf blockade

September 18, 2018: Qatar Airways has published its annual report for 2017/18. Terming the year as the most challenging in its 20 year history due to the Saudi-led embargo against the Gulf nation, the state-owned airline said it made a loss of 252 million riyals ($69 million) compared with a profit of 2.79 billion riyals a year earlier.
Operating expenses increased to 42.2 billion riyals from 36.7 billion riyals last year.

Revenue, however, increased 7.4 percent to 42 billion riyals from 39 billion last year.
The airline stated that the lower revenue growth was directly attributable to the illegal blockade, which impacted departing seats by 19 percent.

The tiny oil- and gas-rich Gulf state of Qatar had been cut off by some of its powerful Arab neighbours over its alleged support for terrorism. Qatar in the process lost access to 18 cities in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, and Bahrain, which affected its aviation trade massively.

The airline consequently attempted to mitigate the impact of the dispute by launching flights to new destinations, increasing flights on existing routes, and leasing aircraft to other airlines.

The airline however has reported positive cargo revenue. Cargo revenue witnessed a growth of 34.40 percent against cargo capacity (Available Tonne Kilometres) growing 13.95 percent annually.