But Mr Joyce insisted Qantas would stick with its troubled premium international operations, which provides an important feed of passengers onto its domestic operations. The profit warning was triggered by a significant deterioration in yields and passenger loads on planes across its international and domestic networks in November. Qantas now expects to report an underlying loss before tax of between $250 million and $300 million for the six months to December. It was well below market expectations of a $74 million loss. It will be the first time the airline has recorded a loss in the first half - typically its strongest - since it was privatised in the 1990s. ''We have a price war. It hurts both participants [Qantas and Virgin] and they have to find a point of truce,'' Macquarie Equities analyst Ian Myles said. ''It is a tough industry and [Virgin boss John] Borghetti knows where the profits are in Qantas and he is going after them - he is certainly succeeding.''