QF to shed 2000 jobs
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Cloudburst, settle down old chap. It is a proud airline tradition to complain about management, crew meals, ugly F/As, salary, lack of sex, super, tight reggrundies, bidlines, rosters, uniforms, Geoff, Geoff, Geoff, lost baggage, rude groundstaff, crew buses, hotel rooms, and dreading going home to a missus with a hot tongue and a cold A#se. BUT if anyone outside the Airline complains, watch them all close ranks. Its part of the fun old chap, especially when you run out of jokes. Open a cheeky red and relax.
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Press Release
QANTAS ANNOUNCES JOB AND CAPACITY CUTS
SYDNEY, 18 July 2008: The Qantas Group said today it would cut 1,500 jobs worldwide
in response to the sustained high oil prices and changing economic conditions.
The Chief Executive Officer of Qantas Airways Limited, Mr Geoff Dixon, said that in
addition to the job cuts, Qantas would not implement its budgeted growth in flying in the
2008/09 financial year and would cancel plans to hire a further 1,200 people for that
growth.
Mr Dixon said every effort would be made to achieve the job cuts through voluntary
redundancy, early retirements, leave without pay, an accelerated leave program and
converting positions from full-time to part-time.
“However, some compulsory redundancies will be necessary, which we regret.
“The jobs to be cut will be principally concentrated in non-operational areas, although
operational positions will also go.”
“Over 20 per cent of our management and head office support jobs will be cut,” he said.
“The redundancy program will be completed by December.”
Mr Dixon said the aviation industry was facing a major crisis throughout the world and
Qantas needed to act decisively to ensure its future.
“Acting now, on top of the measures already taken, will protect our competitive position,
protect the great majority of over 36,000 jobs and enable us to grow profitably when
conditions improve.
Mr Dixon said as a result of today’s decision, the Qantas group would:
- maintain a recruitment and executive pay freeze for the foreseeable future;
- reduce forecast capacity growth in 2008/09 from eight per cent to nil growth;
-retire up to 22 older aircraft from its fleet of 228 (including announcements previously
made);
- close its long-running call centres in Tucson, Arizona and London at a cost of 99 jobs,
and concentrate all its call centre activity in Australia and New Zealand;
- suspend Jetstar’s recruitment program until the end of the year, including its recruitment
of pilots under the 457 visa program; and
- close Jetstar’s cabin crew and pilot base in Adelaide by the end of August, with Jetstar’s
37 return weekly Adelaide flights to remain and be serviced by aircraft and staff based
in Darwin and Sydney.
Mr Dixon said Qantas would also:
- proceed with its major fleet re-equipment program of new and more fuel efficient aircraft
such as the A380 and B787; and
- proceed with its customer-focused product and service initiatives such as domestic
Business class lounges, terminal facilities and opening the new Qantas Customer
Service Centre of Excellence.
He said Qantas was very conscious of the important role it played in business and tourism
throughout metropolitan and regional Australia.
“This was uppermost in our mind when reviewing all aspects of our operations in recent
weeks and, as a result, the latest schedule changes mostly involve a reduction of capacity
on some routes and not the wholesale elimination of routes.
“Also we need to keep developing new opportunities and we will, for example, proceed
with opening up already announced new direct services between Sydney and Buenos
Aires in November.”
Mr Dixon said Qantas had successfully responded, with the valuable support of its people
and its customers, to many crises since privatisation in 1995.
“We are confident of doing the same again, particularly now that we have reached an in
principle agreement with the union representing our engineers, the ALAEA. This should
mean a quick cessation to the difficulties our customers have experienced over the past
ten weeks.”
Mr Dixon said the agreement, and the one reached on Wednesday with AIPA, the union
representing 1,800 pilots, provided greater flexibility for Qantas and its pilots and its
engineers, certainty at a volatile and difficult time and maintenance of a sustainable wages
policy.
SYDNEY, 18 July 2008: The Qantas Group said today it would cut 1,500 jobs worldwide
in response to the sustained high oil prices and changing economic conditions.
The Chief Executive Officer of Qantas Airways Limited, Mr Geoff Dixon, said that in
addition to the job cuts, Qantas would not implement its budgeted growth in flying in the
2008/09 financial year and would cancel plans to hire a further 1,200 people for that
growth.
Mr Dixon said every effort would be made to achieve the job cuts through voluntary
redundancy, early retirements, leave without pay, an accelerated leave program and
converting positions from full-time to part-time.
“However, some compulsory redundancies will be necessary, which we regret.
“The jobs to be cut will be principally concentrated in non-operational areas, although
operational positions will also go.”
“Over 20 per cent of our management and head office support jobs will be cut,” he said.
“The redundancy program will be completed by December.”
Mr Dixon said the aviation industry was facing a major crisis throughout the world and
Qantas needed to act decisively to ensure its future.
“Acting now, on top of the measures already taken, will protect our competitive position,
protect the great majority of over 36,000 jobs and enable us to grow profitably when
conditions improve.
Mr Dixon said as a result of today’s decision, the Qantas group would:
- maintain a recruitment and executive pay freeze for the foreseeable future;
- reduce forecast capacity growth in 2008/09 from eight per cent to nil growth;
-retire up to 22 older aircraft from its fleet of 228 (including announcements previously
made);
- close its long-running call centres in Tucson, Arizona and London at a cost of 99 jobs,
and concentrate all its call centre activity in Australia and New Zealand;
- suspend Jetstar’s recruitment program until the end of the year, including its recruitment
of pilots under the 457 visa program; and
- close Jetstar’s cabin crew and pilot base in Adelaide by the end of August, with Jetstar’s
37 return weekly Adelaide flights to remain and be serviced by aircraft and staff based
in Darwin and Sydney.
Mr Dixon said Qantas would also:
- proceed with its major fleet re-equipment program of new and more fuel efficient aircraft
such as the A380 and B787; and
- proceed with its customer-focused product and service initiatives such as domestic
Business class lounges, terminal facilities and opening the new Qantas Customer
Service Centre of Excellence.
He said Qantas was very conscious of the important role it played in business and tourism
throughout metropolitan and regional Australia.
“This was uppermost in our mind when reviewing all aspects of our operations in recent
weeks and, as a result, the latest schedule changes mostly involve a reduction of capacity
on some routes and not the wholesale elimination of routes.
“Also we need to keep developing new opportunities and we will, for example, proceed
with opening up already announced new direct services between Sydney and Buenos
Aires in November.”
Mr Dixon said Qantas had successfully responded, with the valuable support of its people
and its customers, to many crises since privatisation in 1995.
“We are confident of doing the same again, particularly now that we have reached an in
principle agreement with the union representing our engineers, the ALAEA. This should
mean a quick cessation to the difficulties our customers have experienced over the past
ten weeks.”
Mr Dixon said the agreement, and the one reached on Wednesday with AIPA, the union
representing 1,800 pilots, provided greater flexibility for Qantas and its pilots and its
engineers, certainty at a volatile and difficult time and maintenance of a sustainable wages
policy.
Last edited by Angle of Attack; 18th Jul 2008 at 00:19. Reason: because first copy and paste came out messy !
Bottums Up
- close Jetstar’s cabin crew and pilot base in Adelaide by the end of August, with Jetstar’s 37 return weekly Adelaide flights to remain and be serviced by aircraft and staff based in Darwin and Sydney.
Hey airtags...i heard that skytrax is a Q owned awards thingy anyway...so it really means nothing at all....can you confirm if this is true???
Not true at all, so don't get so excited. If they were don't you think QF would be rated as a five star airline, rather than their competitors?
Not true at all, so don't get so excited. If they were don't you think QF would be rated as a five star airline, rather than their competitors?
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Skytrax is an online survery where anyone can lodge a vote for the airlines listed. There is no group or board making the decisions just the votes from users online. A system easily manipulated if someone wants to win the award. 
left out a letter!
Speedbirdhouse,
Yes you did. He stumbled through saying 747-300s, older Dash 8s and 744s. Not really that surprising to get rid of some of the older clunkers. I know we are capacity contrained but he didn't give a time frame - I'm guessing that when we have a few 380s up and about that the 744s will begin to go. He did appear like he was a bit caught on the hop with that question - I would have thought that he would have also mentioned 734s and older 76s
As I said - no time frame was mentioned so the statement itself could just be re-inforcement of current plans anyway.
M
ps I did like the way he sledged Steven Creedy..... :-D
Yes you did. He stumbled through saying 747-300s, older Dash 8s and 744s. Not really that surprising to get rid of some of the older clunkers. I know we are capacity contrained but he didn't give a time frame - I'm guessing that when we have a few 380s up and about that the 744s will begin to go. He did appear like he was a bit caught on the hop with that question - I would have thought that he would have also mentioned 734s and older 76s
As I said - no time frame was mentioned so the statement itself could just be re-inforcement of current plans anyway.
M
ps I did like the way he sledged Steven Creedy..... :-D
Last edited by mmmbop; 18th Jul 2008 at 02:49.
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The NZ Herald story... 'borrowed' from AAP
20% of management you say?? <insert Tui Billboard here> 
I wonder how many of the 1200 new hires were going to be tech crew??
Qantas cuts 1500 jobs, shuts US, London call centres
Qantas says it will cut 1500 jobs across the world to try to offset the rising cost of jet fuel and challenging conditions in the aviation industry.
The national carrier has also scrapped plans to hire another 1200 workers in the new financial year and will retire 22 older aircraft from its fleet of 228.
Chief executive Geoff Dixon said the aviation industry is facing a major crisis and Qantas needs to ensure its future.
"The jobs to be cut will be principally concentrated in non-operational areas, although operational positions will also go," he said in Sydney.
"Over 20 per cent of our management and head office support jobs will be cut."
- AAP
Qantas says it will cut 1500 jobs across the world to try to offset the rising cost of jet fuel and challenging conditions in the aviation industry.
The national carrier has also scrapped plans to hire another 1200 workers in the new financial year and will retire 22 older aircraft from its fleet of 228.
Chief executive Geoff Dixon said the aviation industry is facing a major crisis and Qantas needs to ensure its future.
"The jobs to be cut will be principally concentrated in non-operational areas, although operational positions will also go," he said in Sydney.
"Over 20 per cent of our management and head office support jobs will be cut."
- AAP
I wonder how many of the 1200 new hires were going to be tech crew??
Agreed Cheechos. I would also like to know the effect on mainline pilot recruitment without wanting to sound selfish given that people will be losing their jobs.
Obviously some idea of the impact would be beneficial to personal plans given that many of us still have an LOI. I did notice they announced a holt to J* tech crew recruitment but no mention of mainline. Hopefully at least the courses currently planned will go ahead.
Obviously some idea of the impact would be beneficial to personal plans given that many of us still have an LOI. I did notice they announced a holt to J* tech crew recruitment but no mention of mainline. Hopefully at least the courses currently planned will go ahead.
And if Qantas is true to form as described in Pprune, the cuts will be made as painful, and as drawn out as possible, for the emotional benefit of the torturers at the top.
TID edit: Lets just leave that out of it, thanks.
TID edit: Lets just leave that out of it, thanks.
Last edited by Tidbinbilla; 18th Jul 2008 at 20:46.
The Crikey.com.au take on it from veteran aviation writer, Ben Sandilands:
Qantas slashes lightly. A bit.
Ben Sandilands writes:
When Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon signed a peace deal with its rebellious mechanics at 8.30 pm last night the media had spent a day running the company line that up to 3000 jobs could go.
At 10am today the real figure was revealed. There will be 1500 jobs going, out of a current 36,000 employees including Jetstar, no route closures were announced, but frequency of service would be cut and unless oil prices plummet fares will rise sharply on domestic routes.
The Qantas-slashes-itself-lightly media event this morning was the vaguest ever given by its management. There was no profit guidance for the current financial year, no cost saving figures for the job cuts except for the obvious concession that 1500 jobs won’t pay for a feared extra $2 billion in fuel costs, and no clarity over what the airline meant by "further changes to our business model" in terms of operations, or the transfer of services from Qantas to Jetstar.
However, a few items stand out. Dixon says the deal with the maintenance staff (who have refused to work overtime for the past 10 weeks) stays within the company’s line on wages, which was no pay rise of more than 3% per annum.
The pilots' union accepted a new five year 3% per annum deal on Wednesday, like the deal with the mechanics and engineers this agreement has to go to a vote of members. The licensed engineers and mechanics association has secured other payment or leave concessions however which may point to a costly face saving formula for Qantas in lieu of their members getting the flat 5% per annum for three years it had insisted upon. It is too soon to know if the "extras" will carry the vote for the maintenance crews. The pilot deal is considered a dead certainty.
For the long suffering Qantas customers who were scarcely mentioned this morning there is no precise estimate as to how soon flights will return to normal, whatever "normal" means because of high fuel and demand which Dixon conceded was slipping.
But he did say the longer fuel stayed high "the more the idea of airline consolidation will become reality".
Hello Singapore girl?
Ben Sandilands writes:
When Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon signed a peace deal with its rebellious mechanics at 8.30 pm last night the media had spent a day running the company line that up to 3000 jobs could go.
At 10am today the real figure was revealed. There will be 1500 jobs going, out of a current 36,000 employees including Jetstar, no route closures were announced, but frequency of service would be cut and unless oil prices plummet fares will rise sharply on domestic routes.
The Qantas-slashes-itself-lightly media event this morning was the vaguest ever given by its management. There was no profit guidance for the current financial year, no cost saving figures for the job cuts except for the obvious concession that 1500 jobs won’t pay for a feared extra $2 billion in fuel costs, and no clarity over what the airline meant by "further changes to our business model" in terms of operations, or the transfer of services from Qantas to Jetstar.
However, a few items stand out. Dixon says the deal with the maintenance staff (who have refused to work overtime for the past 10 weeks) stays within the company’s line on wages, which was no pay rise of more than 3% per annum.
The pilots' union accepted a new five year 3% per annum deal on Wednesday, like the deal with the mechanics and engineers this agreement has to go to a vote of members. The licensed engineers and mechanics association has secured other payment or leave concessions however which may point to a costly face saving formula for Qantas in lieu of their members getting the flat 5% per annum for three years it had insisted upon. It is too soon to know if the "extras" will carry the vote for the maintenance crews. The pilot deal is considered a dead certainty.
For the long suffering Qantas customers who were scarcely mentioned this morning there is no precise estimate as to how soon flights will return to normal, whatever "normal" means because of high fuel and demand which Dixon conceded was slipping.
But he did say the longer fuel stayed high "the more the idea of airline consolidation will become reality".
Hello Singapore girl?
Ben Sandilands writes:
The pilots' union accepted a new five year 3% per annum deal on Wednesday....... this agreement has to go to a vote of members.
The pilot deal is considered a dead certainty.
The pilots' union accepted a new five year 3% per annum deal on Wednesday....... this agreement has to go to a vote of members.
The pilot deal is considered a dead certainty.
My sources indicate that an issue regarding accommodation is yet to be resolved at the special meeting before this "deal" is to be "signed off"....
in spite of what has been touted by GOD and the press
Nunc est bibendum
There are a couple of areas of loose wording in the pilot deal. One area in particular will see the 744 and A380 crew kill it stone cold dead if it's not resolved.
Other than that, yep, 3%, slight increase in super and a couple of little sweetners.
Other than that, yep, 3%, slight increase in super and a couple of little sweetners.
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It seems the cutbacks are coming to Jetstar more than QF as far as pilots go.
Wasn't Jetstar supposed to be gearing up for the 787 this year? Bit hard to do with a freeze on recruitment.
Fuel costs are now 50% of Jetstar's operating costs and Dixon said that business travel was holding up whilst the "leisure market" was softening.
Wasn't Jetstar supposed to be gearing up for the 787 this year? Bit hard to do with a freeze on recruitment.
Fuel costs are now 50% of Jetstar's operating costs and Dixon said that business travel was holding up whilst the "leisure market" was softening.
Quote:
"Wasn't Jetstar supposed to be gearing up for the 787 this year? Bit hard to do with a freeze on recruitment."
Certainly strange Capt'
Problem is there appears to be significant delays with the 787 program. I'm not sure, but I don't think the prototype has even flown yet! GOD is probably using this to freeze recruitment, amongst other things.
Another problem is that down the track when this thing blows over (and it will, already the price of oil is softening), and the 787 finally becomes available, will there be enough drivers around for the planned expansion?
By then of course GOD would have moved on and that aspect will be someone else's problem. Interesting "Rollercoaster" over the next decade methinks!
"Wasn't Jetstar supposed to be gearing up for the 787 this year? Bit hard to do with a freeze on recruitment."
Certainly strange Capt'
Problem is there appears to be significant delays with the 787 program. I'm not sure, but I don't think the prototype has even flown yet! GOD is probably using this to freeze recruitment, amongst other things.
Another problem is that down the track when this thing blows over (and it will, already the price of oil is softening), and the 787 finally becomes available, will there be enough drivers around for the planned expansion?
By then of course GOD would have moved on and that aspect will be someone else's problem. Interesting "Rollercoaster" over the next decade methinks!