Qantas Airways Ltd announced yesterday it was slashing its workforce by 1,500 people worldwide, the latest in a string of measures to try to offset skyrocketing fuel costs.
Chief executive Geoff Dixon said the cuts — about 1,300 of them coming in Australia — represent 4 percent of its total workforce.
The airline said it would also close call centers in Tucson, Arizona, and London, causing the loss of 99 jobs.
Dixon said the cuts were necessary to ensure that Qantas survives what he called a crisis in the aviation industry caused by large rises in the price of fuel.
“I think it’s as tough as I’ve seen it,” Dixon told reporters. “It’s not just aviation being hurt by oil prices, it’s other things, such as food. It’s tough — there’s no doubt about it.”
Fuel accounts for about 35 percent of Qantas’ expenses and rising fuel costs are expected to add more than A$2 billion (US$2 billion) to the company’s fuel bills this fiscal year.
The airline’s work force of 36,000 people accounts for another 30 percent of costs.
The first step in the job-shedding plan would be to ask for voluntary redundancies, Dixon said.
“But unfortunately, with these numbers we will have compulsory redundancies,” he said, adding that the redundancies would be completed by December.
Australian Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said the government would provide assistance to those who lose their jobs.
“Certainly the government is disappointed with any job losses and we want to make sure that the workers are given every support,” Albanese said.
To reduce costs even more, the firm will maintain an executive pay freeze for the foreseeable future.
The airline is also abandoning plans to increase its capacity by 8 percent in the next 12 months, with no growth whatsoever now expected in that period, Dixon said. Also, 22 older planes in Qantas’ 228-strong fleet would be retired.
Qantas’ budget subsidiary Jetstar would also be hit by the cuts, with its hiring program suspended. A Jetstar cabin crew and pilot base in the southern city of Adelaide will be shut by September.
Qantas has already increased fares twice and cut capacity twice in recent months.
The Australian Services Union (ASU), which represents airport administrative staff, said service standards would fall with the new cuts.
“To cut 20 percent of back office staff undervalues what they do, it’s not as if people are sitting around doing nothing,” said ASU assistant national secretary Linda White.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College