Qantas ‘doing better than most’

The Australian-based airline Qantas is continuing to do well in terms of passenger numbers, despite the credit crunch, its retired chief executive has said.Geoff Dixon, who recently handed the helm to Alan Joyce, told Sky News that although its profits will not be quite as healthy this year, he feels the airline is doing fine “given what’s going on in the world at the moment”.

“This is a very strong airline, almost twice the size of what it was eight or nine years ago,” he pointed out.

Qantas is the world’s second oldest airline and employs over 37,000 people, according to its website.

It offers services to 145 destinations in 37 countries and operated a fleet of 224 aircraft as of June 2008.

Speaking on the day of his departure after eight years as chief executive, Mr Dixon said he was confident that Qantas will continue to retain its decisive and forward-looking spirit and that he feels it offers some of the best airline services in the world.