Qantas staff fear cuts as kangaroo route struggles
QANTAS staff fear that job cuts will be announced on Thursday when the airline releases its half-year profit and updates investors on a strategic review of its loss-making premium international operations.
The expectations of reductions to its 34,000-strong workforce came as Workplace Minister Bill Shorten called for Qantas to focus on the longer term, telling Fairfax Radio Network yesterday that ''if you cut too much you then lose skills that are never coming back''.
Qantas has had a strategic review of its international operations under way since January last year, which includes the possibility of it launching an ultra-premium carrier in south-east Asia.
The airline has been struggling to stem losses on the so-called ''kangaroo route'' to Europe because of increased competition from other carriers and high fuel costs. It has led to renewed speculation that Qantas might shelve flights to Frankfurt in Germany, leaving London as its sole gateway in Europe.
The Australian and International Pilots Association vice-president, Richard Woodward, said staff feared the airline would announce the shedding of jobs on Thursday, as part of reductions to its long-haul network.
About 180 Qantas pilots had taken up the company's offer of leave without pay to work for Jetstar and rivals including Emirates and Qatar Airways over the past six months, Mr Woodward said.
The federal president of the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association, Paul Cousins, said yesterday that Qantas' engineering division was the most exposed to the company shedding jobs.
Qantas announced 1000 job cuts - mainly affecting pilots, cabin crew and engineers - in August when it unveiled its five-year strategy for turning around the international operations.
The airline yesterday declined to comment on the speculation but ruled out shifting jobs overseas.
''There is always a lot of rumour and speculation about Qantas and we are not going to respond to every single rumour, but any suggestion that Qantas is offshoring jobs is totally incorrect,'' a spokesman said.
As Qantas grapples with turning around its long-haul operations, Macquarie Equities analysts have suggested that Emirates could be an attractive partner for the airline on the route between Australia and Europe. To ease its exposure to Europe, Qantas has already announced that it will reduce flights on the route to Europe from five a day to three from April
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Qantas staff fear cuts as kangaroo route struggles