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Qantas Airways Extends Schedule Changes Through September Quarter, Adds Europe Seats
Qantas Airways (ASX:QAN) and its Jetstar unit are set to extend previously disclosed schedule changes across their international and domestic network into the first quarter of fiscal year 2027, aiming to mitigate the impact of significantly higher fuel prices due to the Middle East conflict, according to a Friday filing with the Australian bourse.On its international network, Qantas will continue to operate more flights between Australia and Europe. Additional Perth-Rome flights have been extended for another three months until the end of October, while flights to Paris will revert to three return flights per week in August, continuing to operate from Sydney through Singapore.The changes come in response to strong demand for travel to Europe, and will provide an additional 2,000 seats to and from the continent each week, Qantas said.The changes also lower the company's previously planned international capacity by 2 percentage points for the September quarter, per the filing.With regards to the domestic network, Qantas said it is extending capacity reductions of 5 percentage points until the end of September, mainly on major capital city routes.
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Asia
Bank of China's Q1 Profit Rises 4%, Net Interest Income Up 8%
Bank of China (SHA:601988, HKG:3988) recorded a 4.2% year-over-year increase in attributable profit in the first quarter of 2026 to 56.6 billion yuan from 54.4 billion yuan.Earnings per share was flat at 0.18 yuan, according to a Shanghai Stock Exchange filing on Thursday.Net interest income jumped 7.8% to 116.1 billion yuan from 107.7 billion yuan a year prior.Operating income climbed 8.4% to 178.8 billion yuan.By the end of March, the bank's ratio of non-performing loans shrank to 1.22% from 1.23% at the start of the year. It held a total of 287 billion yuan in non-performing loans.China's fourth-largest bank by assets saw its total assets expand 3.2% in Q1 to 39.6 trillion yuan from 38.4 trillion yuan at the end of 2025.
$HKG:3988$SHA:601988
Asia
US, China Officials Hold Talks Ahead of Trump-Xi Meeting
U.S. and Chinese officials held talks on Thursday ahead of a planned May meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.In a post on X, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that his meeting with Vice Premier He Lifeng was "both candid and comprehensive," adding that he raised concerns over "China's recent provocative extraterritorial regulations," which he said are having a chilling effect on global supply chains.The meeting was conducted via video call, which Chinese state media CCTV also described as "candid," according to a Reuters report on Thursday.The discussions came after Beijing introduced new supply chain rules, which triggered concerns among U.S. companies, Reuters said.
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