It may not be winning back many hearts, but Qantas is making serious money

The airline is flush with enough cash for a $400m share buy-back, a great transfer of wealth from customers to shareholders

It may be slightly less profitable and boast a friendlier CEO who says she does a lot more listening than talking", but Qantas remains an airline making serious money that could do much more to win back Australians' hearts.

The $1.25bn pre-tax half yearly profit unveiled on Thursday, while down 13% on the same period last year, was still 40% higher than the last half-year trading period before the pandemic upended travel.

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