Qantas to axe 6,000 jobs in coronavirus cost-cutting drive
Australian airline Qantas will cut around 6,000 jobs and seek to raise up to AU$1.9bn (£1.05bn) as part of a wide-ranging cost-cutting plan prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.
Of the 6,000 jobs, which account for about 20 per cent of the airline’s 29,000-strong workforce, roughly half will come from a mixture of cabin crew, engineers and pilots.
A further 15,000 employees will remain on furlough until the carrier begins to operate more flights.
As with the rest of the aviation sector, Qantas has been hammered by the coronavirus crisis, which saw Australia close its borders in an attempt to limit the spread of the disease.
Officials have said that the country is likely to remain closed to the majority of international travels until next year.
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said the airline was taking a “realistic” view of the prospect of international services, saying he did not expect many such flights to operate until July next year.
Next year the carrier is expected to get back to 70 per cent of its passenger capacity, and will return to pre-coronavirus levels in 2022.
In the meantime, Joyce said that Qantas had to prepare itself for a period of much lower revenue.
“We have to position ourselves for several years when revenue will be much lower. And this means becoming a much smaller airline in the short term”, he said.
The cost-cutting plan is estimated to save the carrier AU$15bn and marks the airline’s first equity raise for a decade.
Qanats also announced that it will ground 100 aircraft for up to 12 months and retire its remaining Boeing Co 747 fleet immediately, six months ahead of schedule.