Qantas expects to rake in a record profit this year from its Frequent Flyer arm, the airline’s chief executive said Tuesday.

In a television interview with Bloomberg, chief executive Alan Joyce said the carrier had seen strong performance in its loyalty program and low cost carrier subsidiary Jetstar.

"Our Frequent Flyer program . . . is doing very well” he said.

"It's experienced massive growth this year, signing up new partners, and it will have a record year in terms of profitability."

He added that Jetstar, which has recently signed a "non-equity" partnership with AirAsia, was experiencing record profitability, with plans to add 18 aircraft to its fleet this year.

Qantas’s domestic and regional operations are also recovering “quite fast”, Joyce said.

However, he said international operations were still suffering with average fares having fallen 20 percent during the financial crisis.

Despite this, Joyce said he was optimistic the airline would be able to raise international fares soon.

"In the domestic market, in particular, we saw airfares increase before Christmas and we were hoping that would occur also in the international markets”