Qantas has posted a $1.4 billion half-year profit thanks to cost-cutting and higher-priced airfares – and boss Alan Joyce says most of the credit goes to the significant number of passengers returning to the skies. And if you’ve dug deep to pay for your fare recently, he flagged lower fares are coming soon as fuel cost and supply chain problems stabilise. “Now those challenges are starting to unwind, we can add more capacity, and that will put downward pressure on fares,” Joyce said. Qantas wasn’t the only cheerful company yesterday… Medibank also saw its half-year profit rise 5.9% to $233 million against the odds (aka the largest data breach Oz has ever seen…). But the odds weren’t in Star Entertainment Group’s favour – the casino operator posted a $1.26 billion loss after money laundering investigations hit hard. Swings and roundabouts, eh?