Qatar Airways announced on Monday that its profits jumped by 28% to a “record” 6.1 billion Qatari riyals ($1.7 billion) for the financial year 2023/2024 off the back of a surge in passengers as it continued to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The airline said in a statement it was the strongest financial performance in its 27-year history. It reported revenue of 81 billion Qatari riyals ($22.2 billion), an increase of 6%  — or 4.7 billion riyals ($1.3 billion) — compared to the previous year’s figure. Last year, the airline reported a record profit of $1.67 billion.

The airline’s earnings before depreciation, interest, taxation, debt and amortization margin were 24% at 19.1 billion riyals ($5.2 billion), around 1.2 billion riyals ($300 million higher) than the previous year.

Passenger loads surged to more than 40 million, a 26% increase over the last year, as Qatar Airways continued to recover from the sharp drop-off in travelers during the COVID-19 pandemic. In turn, passenger revenue rose by 19%, with a 21% capacity increase driven by the airline’s highest-ever load factor of 83%.