Qantas to shed 1,000 jobs
Qantas is to shed about 1,000 jobs as part of its wide-ranging five-year plan to revive its international business, which will include handing over some of its flights to British Airways.
The airline will drop its London to Bangkok and London to Hong Kong flights, which are to be taken over by its partner BA from early next year.
At the same time, BA will withdraw from the Bangkok to Sydney sector.
The airline said the job cuts were necessary “as a result of aircraft retirements, network changes and more efficient practices”.
Areas affected include management positions, pilots, cabin crew and engineering.
“There’s no doubt this is tough. But consistent with past practices, we expect the majority of these redundancies will be voluntary,” said Qantas CEO Alan Joyce.
Australia's aircraft engineers is considering taking legal action against Qantas over the new international strategy, which includes plans to launch a premium airline based in Asia and a new budget airline in Japan.
Qantas has not yet announced where it will base its new premium airline, which will have a new name, a new brand and 11 new A320 aircraft.
“The airline will not be called Qantas but it will leverage all our Qantas know-how,” Joyce said.
“We have narrowed down our location options and an announcement will be made when we have completed negotiations.
“We will be offering same day services to and within Asia, and overall frequencies to Asia from Australia will grow,” Joyce added.
Australian Licenced Aircraft Engineers Association is seeking advice on whether the airline's move effectively breaches the Qantas Sale Act, which called for the airline to keep the majority of its facilities in Australia when it was privatised.
Australian and International Pilots Association president Captain Barry Jackson said the announcement marked a sad day in the airline’s proud 90 year history.
“Today’s announcement proves we have a Qantas CEO with no belief in the iconic brand,” Capt. Jackson said.
Qantas has launched a massive global advertising campaign to support its new strategy under the tagline, There’s A New Spirit.
A video message from the CEO ends with the words. “We will always be proud that the vast majority of our operations are based in Australia.
“We will always call Australia home.”
By TravelMole Asia Pacific
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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