Qantas Says No Need To Raise Capital

Australia's Qantas Airways expects to navigate the current aviation crisis, the industry's worst, without having to further cut capacity or jobs or needing to raise capital, the airline said Wednesday.

Qantas has forecast a loss in the second half of its 2009 financial year, as the industry sinks further into the red.

"We have built up our cash balances and our plans going forward have deferred capital expenditure," CEO Alan Joyce told reporters after speaking at a business lunch.

"We have used those other mechanisms to make sure that Qantas has sufficient balance-sheet strength to get through our view of the current environment," Joyce added.

Qantas raised AUD$500 million (USD$390 million) by selling new shares in February and there had been recent market talk that Qantas might need to come back to the market again.

Qantas, which previously announced plans to cut 1,750 jobs and reduce capacity by a further 5 percent, said there were some signs of strength coming from its freight business in China, though H1N1 flu had had an impact on its Japanese passenger flights.

Joyce said Qantas's budget carrier, Jetstar, had had to cancel a third of its operations in Japan. "Overall the rest of the operation has had some sporadic impact but nothing as significant as Japan," he said.