Cost cutting: $576m With the Abbott government rejecting pleas for financial assistance, Joyce unveiled plans early last year to strip $2 billion in costs out of Qantas within three years and axe 5000 jobs. Qantas management deftly used the public perception that it was a company in deep trouble as leverage to force unions to the table to agree to concessions. Out of it came an 18-month wage freeze across the company. Without doubt, it was a significant feat for an airline that had been severely damaged in the past by bust ups between management and its unionised workforce.

This year, financial benefits from measures such as the pay freeze, job cuts, closure of call centres and reducing its heavy maintenance bases equates to a $576 million boost to Qantas' result. Other ways it has stripped out costs include casting a tougher eye over what it pays suppliers. Qantas has axed about 1800 jobs this year, which takes to more than 4000 the number it has cut since it announced plans in February 2014 to remove a total of 5000 positions within three years. The job cuts will make up about $600 million of the $2 billion in savings it has targeted by 2016-17. Cheaper fuel: $461m One of the major contributors to the swing in Qantas's financial fortunes has been cheaper fuel.

After OPEC held supply in a bid to shake out higher cost North American shale oil producers late last year, the price of crude more than halved after several years of trading between $US110 and $US125 a barrel. Since December, the oil price has been stuck at about $US55 a barrel. For Qantas, the sharp dive in jet fuel prices – its single biggest cost – has translated into a $461 million boost to its earnings this year. Fuel efficiency: $136m Qantas has also booked $136 million from "fuel efficiency".

The measures Qantas lumps in with the so-called "transformation" benefits includes ensuring quicker turnaround of planes at airports, reducing fuel burn of aircraft and retiring old planes such as Boeing 767s. Accounting gymnastics: $195m This time last year, Joyce shocked the public when he unveiled a $2.8 billion bottom-line loss, the largest in Qantas's history. The net less looked worse than it was because he decided to clear the decks by writing down the value of the airline's international fleet by a whopping $2.6 billion. A year on, Qantas is benefiting from the write down in the value of Qantas' fleet of A380s, Boeing 747 jumbos and A330s because it reduces the airline's annual depreciation charges.

This year alone, the lower depreciation charge from writing down the international fleet equates to a $195 million boost to its annual pre-tax earnings (as it will to the tune of about $200 millon in the coming years). Not included in this total is $135 million of depreciation benefits Qantas booked in the year from retiring old gas guzzlers with new aircraft. Staying in the air: $182m Qantas has declared $182 million in "revenue benefits" from ensuring its international and domestic planes are turned around at airports more quickly. Indeed, Qantas' domestic operation aims to turnaround planes at airports within 35 minutes in the coming months.

After one of the most brutal airline contests in Australia's history, Qantas is savouring an end to the so-called capacity war with Virgin Australia in the domestic market. Competition from foreign airlines on international routes has also eased, and Qantas has reduced its exposure to loss-making runs to Europe and Asia while shifting its focus to higher yielding markets such as North America. In essence, airlines are taking the gain from lower costs such as fuel rather than passing it onto travellers in the form of cheaper fares. Loading In a recent report, the International Air Transport Association said the "duopoly situation" between Qantas and Virgin in the domestic market would "limit the ability to further reduce domestic fares".

Carbon tax: $116m The Abbott government's removal of the carbon tax equates to a $116 million boost to Qantas's pre-tax earnings. More aviation news and analysis

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