The world’s best airline has transported 40 million passengers and received 34.9 million more transit travellers in this fiscal year alone.

The Qatar Airways Group has announced its latest achievement of achieving a record $1.67bn in profits during the 2023-2024 fiscal year, its strongest financial performance in its 27-year history.

The figure represents a six percent increase from the previous year’s profits.

“These very strong financials are a testament to the ambition and clear direction that has informed the Qatar Airways Group’s progress throughout the 2023/24 financial year,” said Badr Al Meer, the multiple award-winning airline’s CEO.

He added that Qatar’s national carrier must now utilise this achievement to build on continued successes.

For his part, Saad bin Sherida Al Kaabi, Qatar’s energy affairs minister, said that this achievement is a testament to the group’s capabilities in tackling the challenges the aviation industry has been beset by in recent years.

This was exemplified by the Qatari carrier being voted as the world’s best airline last month at Skytrax’s 2024 World Airline Awards, marking the eighth time the airline clinched the accolade since 2011.

This fiscal year alone, Qatar Airways has operated 194,000 flights – up 24 percent from last year. The carrier has also flown more than 40 million passengers and received over 34.9 million transit passengers.

The carrier’s fleet size stands at over 280 aeroplanes amid a growing destination network expansion. For instance, on Monday, the world’s best airline announced the addition of a fifth travel route to the German city of Hamburg.

“The new connection from Hamburg to Doha, one of the most important and fastest-growing hubs, greatly increases connectivity between Hamburg and the world,” said Christian Kunsch, Hamburg Airport CEO.

Other new cities recently added to its destination network include Kinshasa, Lyon, Al Ula, Neom and Trabzon – among others.

In total, the QA group consists of 12 global enterprises. This includes Qatar Airways Cargo, Discover Qatar, and Qatar Duty Free.

The latter was recently awarded seven accolades, including Airport Food & Beverage Offer of the Year, at the Food and Beverages Awards ceremony in California last month.