It appears the messages of difficult times ahead have already started. From
www.travelbiz.com.au
9 August, 2005
200 Qantas management positions axed in two months
Qantas has axed 15 per cent of its management positions in the past two months.
The airline’s cfo, Peter Gregg, said at the Asia Pacific Aviation Summit at the Hilton Sydney Hotel today that Qantas had used redundancies and attrition to cut the 200 jobs.
Gregg said over the coming year the airline would cut 15 per cent of its remaining workforce of 38,000 in order to cut costs.
He said the job cuts came as the airline was looking to reduce non-fuel unit costs by 5 per cent.
Gregg said Qantas was considering raising the fuel surcharge for a fifth time after he revealed that the airline’s fuel bill would be $600 million higher than last year.
The airline’s “sustainable future” cost-cutting program is aimed at saving more than $500 million this financial year.