How Qantas’s results could impact cheaper airfares for Australians.

With Qantas reporting a $1 billion profit, passengers are asking one key question: will airfares get cheaper in the future?

Unfortunately, the outlook isn’t promising.

Qantas’ profit is down 28 percent year-on-year, and the airline attributes this partly to lower fares.

However, this doesn’t guarantee that fares will remain low moving forward.

Announcing the results, Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson warned that if recommendations from the recent aviation white paper for improved passenger compensation due to flight delays are fully implemented, fares will likely increase.

“In other jurisdictions with broader consumer compensation schemes, we’ve seen that they add costs to airlines,” she explained.