Australian flagcarrier Qantas Airways today reported record results for the 2016 financial year, achieving a 57 percent increase in underlying profit before tax of A$1.53 billion ($1.17 billion). The results, for the 12 months ending on June 30, mark an impressive turnaround from 2014, for which the airline suffered an after-tax loss of A$2.8 billion ($2.6 billion), and allowed it to give shareholders their first dividend in seven years.

For CEO Alan Joyce the return to profitability is vindication for the aggressive Qantas Transformation cost-cutting program initiated in February 2014, which the company claims has so far achieved savings of A$1.66 billion ($1.27 billion) in “permanent cost and revenue benefits”—a number that it expects to rise to A$2.1 billion ($1.6 billion) by June 2017. Hedging on fuel prices alone resulted in a A$664 million ($507 million) saving. Revenues for 2016 increased by 2 percent to A$16.2 billion ($12.4 billion), underlining the impressive progress in boosting profitability.

“This is the best result in the 95-year history of Qantas and the best result in Australian aviation history,” Joyce commented. “It’s a performance that delivers dividends for our customers, our shareholders and the employees who’ve worked so hard to make it happen.”

In an August 24 statement, the airline said that the record results had been achieved for all divisions, including Qantas Domestic, Qantas International, the low-cost division Jetstar Group and Qantas Loyalty. In the domestic market, earnings before interest and tax grew by almost a third to A$820 million ($626 million) and more than doubled for the international division to A$722 million ($551 million).

Qantas is planning for capacity growth of between 2 and 3 percent for the first half of the 2017 financial year. It predicts that revenues for the first half of the new financial year could be below those in the equivalent period of 2016, but that this will be offset by further unit cost savings.