If you're currently scouring the ASX boards for your next dividend share, you might stumble across a famous stock in Qantas Airways Ltd (ASX: QAN) shares.
It's worth remembering that Qantas was, understandably, one of the hardest-hit ASX shares during the COVID crash of 2020 and its aftermath. Months of virtually no domestic or international air travel wreaked havoc on the airline, which was forced to ground planes and furlough thousands of employees.
As such, this ASX 200 travel stock lost the ability to fund dividends for a number of years as it rebuilt its battered ledgers. But last year, Qantas exploded back onto the ASX dividend scene, unveiling two large ordinary dividends after years of dry income taps from the airline.
It funded an ordinary dividend of 16.5 cents per share in April, followed by a final dividend worth 16.5 cents per share in October. Both of these dividends were also accompanied by special dividends, which added another 9.9 cents per share each to investors' total payouts. All of these dividends came fully franked as well.
This was significant for Qantas investors. The last time the airline paid out a dividend was in 2019. And that saw investors receive a total of 25 cents per share in payouts over the entire year.
So Qantas' ordinary dividend total of 33 cents per share represented a significant comeback alone. Particularly so if we consider those special divisions too.
As a result of these payouts, Qantas shares trade on a respectable trailing dividend yield of 3.18% today (at the time of writing). That bumps up to 5.1% if we include the airline's special dividends.
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Is Qantas a share to buy for dividend income in 2026?
Given these figures, as well as Qantas' reputation as one of the most famous blue-chip stocks on the ASX, many investors might be wondering whether Qantas is a worthy dividend stock to add to an income portfolio in 2026. Let's discuss that proposition today.
Unfortunately for fans of the Flying Kangaroo, I don't see much to like in Qantas shares as an income investment. Sure, 2025 was a bumper year, at least by Qantas' standards, when it came to income. If it weren't for the airline's near-100% share price jump between 2024 and 2026, its current yield would be far higher too.
However, investors who run income-focused portfolios usually want their dividends to come from companies that are financially sound and can offer some semblance of income safety (at least by the share market's standard). Whilst Qantas is looking healthy today, I have never liked the underlying economics of an airline.
These businesses are some of the most difficult to manage successfully. They are capital-heavy (aeroplanes don't come cheap) and highly vulnerable to a range of factors outside their control. These include fuel costs, currency movements, and the underlying health of the global economy. If a recession hits, that next international holiday is one of the things that are first in line for the chopping block.
So while everything looks rosy at Qantas right now, I would worry that this would be one of the first ASX stocks to pare back its dividends if economic storm clouds appear on the horizon. That's not something I would look for in a dividend share, and, as such, I think there are better stocks out there for investors seeking income today.
