Australia's
national flag carrier Qantas has reported a net loss of 2.8bn Australian
dollars ($2.6bn; £1.6bn) for the year to June - its biggest ever annual loss.
The
struggling airline said the result was in part due to an A$2.6bn write-down on
its international fleet.
Analysts
were expecting a net loss of around A$750m.
Qantas
said weak domestic demand, poor consumer spending and rising fuel costs also
contributed to the huge loss.
It
is the worst result in the company's history and compares with a revised
after-tax profit of A$2m a year earlier.
One-off
costs associated with redundancies contributed to the full-year loss, though,
and the firm said its current underlying financial position was strong and
improving.
Qantas
aircraft Qantas has been trying to
