If my inbox is any indication, morale among Qatar Airways employees isn’t very high right now…
Qatar Airways won’t offer staff bonuses due to instability
A few days ago, Qatar Airways released its results for the past financial year, which ran from April 1, 2025, through March 31, 2026. During this financial year, Qatar Airways achieved excellent results, with a profit of nearly $2 billion. The airline nearly achieved a record profit, though of course the last several weeks of the financial year threw things off, given the conflict with Iran.
In the past three years, Qatar Airways has offered its roughly 60,000 staff pretty decent bonuses. However, this year the airline has informed employees in a memo that there won’t be any bonuses. This is because the geopolitical situation in the region is continuing to “significantly affect” the airline, so the lack of bonuses is a decision that “prioritises long-term stability.”
As you’d expect, staff aren’t too happy about this:
- The airline achieved very strong results the past financial year, so employees should be rewarded for their efforts contributing to that
- The airline basically wants it both ways — it thinks it shouldn’t pay bonuses both when the financial results aren’t good, and also when the results are good but the forecast doesn’t look good
- Keep in mind a lot of Qatar Airways staff have also been earning less money in recent times, given that they’re all flying less (pay is a combination of base pay plus hours flown), so I imagine this also puts many employees in a tough financial spot
- In the US we often talk about how airline losses are socialized, and airline gains are privatized (given how airlines inevitably get government aid for a variety of reasons); this is sort of the opposite, where they’re “socializing” the gains and “privatizing” the losses (except those “parties” are a little different than in the US)
It’s worth noting that Emirates recently released its financial results, which resulted in the airline paying staff a bonus worth 20 weeks of their basic pay. Emirates has quickly become one of the most generous airlines in the industry when it comes to profit sharing.
I understand the frustration of Qatar Airways staff
In fairness to Qatar Airways, it’s not like the airline has a profit sharing formula, but instead, the airline can do whatever it wants (it’s not like there are unions at Gulf airlines). Historically, the airline hasn’t really offered staff bonuses.
However, Emirates has in recent years been offering staff absolutely massive bonuses, often approaching half of their annual base pay. So it seems that competitively, Qatar Airways felt it had to do something as well, even if the bonuses were only a fraction as big as we saw at Emirates.
I have to say, with Qatar Airways having recently appointed a new CEO, I imagine this also doesn’t create a very favorable impression of him (unlike the previous CEO, who was very popular with employees).
Not surprisingly, there’s also an order in which prospective employees typically apply at Gulf carriers — Emirates is almost always the first choice, then Etihad, then Qatar Airways, then Gulf Air and Oman Air, then Saudia, then a lot of the limited service carriers, etc.
While a tangent, we’re also now seeing the launch of Riyadh Air, and it seems they’ve managed to get many people to leave other Gulf carriers, including Emirates and Etihad, to work there. I think that’s due to how well the airline is marketing itself, and also because people are excited at the prospect of being at the top of the seniority system.
Bottom line
Qatar Airways has reported strong financial results for the past year, but unlike previous years, the airline has told employees that there will be no profit sharing for the year. Admittedly Gulf carriers are in a very tough spot at the moment, but I also think the frustration among employees is understandable, given that they worked for the company’s strong financial results.
Qatar Airways is essentially arguing it can’t pay bonuses due to its negative outlook, rather than due to performance not having been good. With Gulf rivals like Emirates paying bonuses worth months of pay, that can’t feel great for Qatar Airways employees.
What do you make of Qatar Airways’ lack of bonuses? Is it fair in light of the negative outlook, or no?
