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Sydney - Qantas' chief executive Alan Joyce on Friday said the Australian carrier expects to post a pre-tax profit in the three months to September following a record net loss, and was on track to complete its major cost-cutting programme.
Speaking at the airline's annual meeting in Melbourne Joyce said preliminary figures showed Qantas had made an underlying profit before tax for the first-quarter of the 2015 financial year.
"In four months we expect to deliver a first half-profit for 2015," Joyce said, reaffirming earlier guidance.
"By the end of June next year we will have completed 80% of our (5 000) announced job reductions. And by the end of June we also expect to have paid down Aus$1b worth of debt, significantly de-leveraging the balance sheet."
READ: Qantas to lay off pilots as it slashes costs
The projected return to profitability followed Qantas' record annual net loss of Aus$2.84bn for the 2014 financial year, driven by restructuring costs and a writedown of its ageing international fleet.
It reported an underlying annual loss before tax of Aus$646m.
The firm has embarked on a Aus$2bn transformation programme, with chairperson Leigh Clifford saying on Friday that "there can be no let up or slow-down in this process".
Joyce said the airline was benefiting from the weaker Australian dollar - which hit a four-year low in early October - and falling oil prices, even as domestic demand remained weak.
He said domestic market capacity growth, which was earlier projected to be about 1.0%, was expected to be flat for the first-half, as a brutal battle with rival Virgin Australia eases.
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Clifford told shareholders the immediate outlook for the company was mixed as the Australian economy transitions away from mining-led growth.
"There is still a general cautiousness among consumers that is affecting all sectors of the Australian economy," he said.
"Government traffic has been weaker, as a result of the tighter fiscal environment."
He said the recovery in earnings from the domestic business would be driven by cost reductions in the short-term.
Several Qantas employees who are also shareholders challenged the board's transformation strategy at the annual meeting, with a member of the ground staff telling the board that morale was low.
Qantas' woes has also attracted criticism from the Transport Workers' Union, which said in a statement on Friday that management needed to "stop waging war on its workforce and instead engage with them to turn the airline around".
