Amidst its on-going struggle on the domestic front, national carrier Qantas Airways Ltd maintained that the local market is seeing a turnaround while its international operations head the same way but remain patchy.

The airline said on Friday that recovery is underway for the industry's global market and that development positively affects the company's international business, specifically its Asia-Pacific operations which offer rich opportunities and boost Qantas' positive outlook.

However, Qantas chair Leigh Clifford said that despite the emerging global opportunities, the situation is generally patchy as "there remain challenges for two of our biggest markets, the US and the UK."

Company chief executive Alan Joyce echoed that substantial challenges are ahead for the company to tackle yet significant opportunities were also offered by Asia-Pacific, arguably the world's largest theatre of operation for the aviation industry.

Mr Joyce said that on its recent statement, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has projected that the Asia-Pacific region would expand over the next three years and dominate by more than 30 percent the overall global passenger traffic.

Along that line, considerable opportunities would be made available for the region's airline industry and Mr Joyce assured that Qantas would respond positively as he cited that in Vietnam alone, Jetstar Pacific is set to capitalise on the promising opportunity offered by that country's 87 million people.

He noted that the profit prospect from the region must be viewed in the long-term outlook, in which he stressed that Qantas is well-prepared to do so.

On the local market, Qantas said its leisure and business has been recovering but cause for concerns still prevail over the simmering discount pricing with airline competitors while the strong Aussie dollar delivered some positive contributions.

These contributions, however, were eclipsed by the declining foreign currency revenues and spiking fuel prices as Mr Joyce underscored that the "strong Australian dollar also has an impact on inbound and outbound travel patterns."

On a positive note, Qantas has lined up additional 158 aircraft orders for the next eight years as the company projected that its current A380 fleet would expand to 20 airplanes by 2015, with ten planes expected to start servicing routes as early as next year.

Mr Clifford told shareholders that the company is preparing to service incoming capital obligations such as fleet renewal and to retain at the same time its high credit rating, prompting its decision to defer dividend payment for financial year 2009/10.

Qantas added that future dividends would first be subjected to careful assessment in consideration of earnings performance and capital requirements, prior to any announcement on resumption of dividend issuance.