Wirraway
8th May 2003, 10:52
Thurs "Sydney Morning Herald"
Qantas to axe 10% of staff as SARS gnaws into profits
By Scott Rochfort and Michael Bradley
May 8 2003
Qantas signalled further large-scale job cuts yesterday after the airline issued its second profit downgrade since the onset of the severe acute respiratory syndrome crisis.
Reporting a 64 per cent slide in passenger bookings to Hong Kong, Qantas said flights to non-SARS affected areas had also been hit hard, with a 45 per cent drop in bookings to Italy, a 14 per cent drop to Britain and a 30 per cent drop to Japan.
Qantas said domestic bookings had also been hit because 15 per cent of its domestic demand is generated by international arrivals.
The planned job cuts are expected to be on par with the 1700 full-time job cuts announced on April 9.
In all, Qantas has announced it plans to slash about 3500 jobs - about 10 per cent of its workforce - by the end of September.
Qantas management will meet unions this morning to discuss the planned job cuts.
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Thurs "Daily Telegraph"
Qantas jobs 'sacrificed'
08may03
QANTAS is to shed another 1000 jobs due to the SARS crisis – but outraged staff claim they are being sacrificed to prop up the airline's $135 million share dividend.
CEO Geoff Dixon announced more another wave of redundancies yesterday because of a drop in travel on key routes.
He refused to spell out how many more jobs would go, but it is understood 1000 positions will be axed.
That is on top of 1700 earmarked six weeks ago.
Workers and unions are outraged that in the same statement announcing job cuts, Mr Dixon pledged to fully maintain a further 9 cent final dividend to shareholders, providing a total dividend for the financial year of 17 cents per share.
Union bosses, who are vowing to give Mr Dixon a torrid time during a face to face meeting today, claimed staff were unfairly expected to carry the entire burden.
"It's about time shareholders, who include some major institutions, shared part of the pain," said Linda White, assistant secretary of the Australian Services Union, representing ground staff.
"Qantas' loyal staff and their families are taking all the pain while shareholders pretend nothing is wrong.
"There are plenty of mum and dad Qantas shareholders out there who don't want to see loyal Qantas workers who have given them dividends over the last few years thrown on the scrapheap."
Flight attendants and maintenance staff were also angry. "It is absolutely appalling that Qantas is saying 'we are still a very profitable company and are maintaining our return to shareholders, but we will cut thousands of jobs'," said Doug Cameron, Manufacturing Workers Union national secretary.
Mr Dixon also announced a downgrade in Qantas' profit forecast.
He did not estimate a final profit for 2002-03, but the company is said to be expecting a cut of up to 30 per cent in recent forecasts.
This would mean a profit before tax of about $500 million, $200 million less than the forecast up until now, and $350 million less than forecast up until March 28.
"All international routes have been affected to some degree, with key Qantas destinations of Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan suffering the most," Mr Dixon said.
"Our bookings to Hong Kong are down 64 per cent and Japan bookings are down 30 per cent. We now only operate seven of the 30 services per week we planned to operate to Hong Kong before the war in Iraq and the outbreak of SARS.
"More recently, there has been a downturn of passenger bookings from Continental Europe, particularly from France and Italy, by about 45 per cent and 33 per cent respectively."
Forward bookings to the UK were down 14 per cent and the drop in international passengers was flowing-on to the domestic business.
As well as further job cuts, he announced increased use of leave, expanded leave without pay and part-time jobs, a "significant restructuring" of work practices and a cut to capital expenditure, including retirement of old aircraft and deferral of new planes.
Mr Dixon insisted the company was strong enough to weather the SARS storm. "We have a healthy balance sheet with more than $2 billion in cash and access to substantial other sources of liquidity," he said.
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Qantas to axe 10% of staff as SARS gnaws into profits
By Scott Rochfort and Michael Bradley
May 8 2003
Qantas signalled further large-scale job cuts yesterday after the airline issued its second profit downgrade since the onset of the severe acute respiratory syndrome crisis.
Reporting a 64 per cent slide in passenger bookings to Hong Kong, Qantas said flights to non-SARS affected areas had also been hit hard, with a 45 per cent drop in bookings to Italy, a 14 per cent drop to Britain and a 30 per cent drop to Japan.
Qantas said domestic bookings had also been hit because 15 per cent of its domestic demand is generated by international arrivals.
The planned job cuts are expected to be on par with the 1700 full-time job cuts announced on April 9.
In all, Qantas has announced it plans to slash about 3500 jobs - about 10 per cent of its workforce - by the end of September.
Qantas management will meet unions this morning to discuss the planned job cuts.
============================================
Thurs "Daily Telegraph"
Qantas jobs 'sacrificed'
08may03
QANTAS is to shed another 1000 jobs due to the SARS crisis – but outraged staff claim they are being sacrificed to prop up the airline's $135 million share dividend.
CEO Geoff Dixon announced more another wave of redundancies yesterday because of a drop in travel on key routes.
He refused to spell out how many more jobs would go, but it is understood 1000 positions will be axed.
That is on top of 1700 earmarked six weeks ago.
Workers and unions are outraged that in the same statement announcing job cuts, Mr Dixon pledged to fully maintain a further 9 cent final dividend to shareholders, providing a total dividend for the financial year of 17 cents per share.
Union bosses, who are vowing to give Mr Dixon a torrid time during a face to face meeting today, claimed staff were unfairly expected to carry the entire burden.
"It's about time shareholders, who include some major institutions, shared part of the pain," said Linda White, assistant secretary of the Australian Services Union, representing ground staff.
"Qantas' loyal staff and their families are taking all the pain while shareholders pretend nothing is wrong.
"There are plenty of mum and dad Qantas shareholders out there who don't want to see loyal Qantas workers who have given them dividends over the last few years thrown on the scrapheap."
Flight attendants and maintenance staff were also angry. "It is absolutely appalling that Qantas is saying 'we are still a very profitable company and are maintaining our return to shareholders, but we will cut thousands of jobs'," said Doug Cameron, Manufacturing Workers Union national secretary.
Mr Dixon also announced a downgrade in Qantas' profit forecast.
He did not estimate a final profit for 2002-03, but the company is said to be expecting a cut of up to 30 per cent in recent forecasts.
This would mean a profit before tax of about $500 million, $200 million less than the forecast up until now, and $350 million less than forecast up until March 28.
"All international routes have been affected to some degree, with key Qantas destinations of Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan suffering the most," Mr Dixon said.
"Our bookings to Hong Kong are down 64 per cent and Japan bookings are down 30 per cent. We now only operate seven of the 30 services per week we planned to operate to Hong Kong before the war in Iraq and the outbreak of SARS.
"More recently, there has been a downturn of passenger bookings from Continental Europe, particularly from France and Italy, by about 45 per cent and 33 per cent respectively."
Forward bookings to the UK were down 14 per cent and the drop in international passengers was flowing-on to the domestic business.
As well as further job cuts, he announced increased use of leave, expanded leave without pay and part-time jobs, a "significant restructuring" of work practices and a cut to capital expenditure, including retirement of old aircraft and deferral of new planes.
Mr Dixon insisted the company was strong enough to weather the SARS storm. "We have a healthy balance sheet with more than $2 billion in cash and access to substantial other sources of liquidity," he said.
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