Business
Qantas Cuts 850 Australian Corporate Jobs to Outsource Work to India
The airline plans to shift administrative roles to Accenture as part of a multi-year technology overhaul aimed at modernizing aging back-end systems and increasing efficiency.
By Headlinne · Compiled from reporting by Guardian, BBC and Times of India
Qantas will eliminate 850 corporate positions in Australia and outsource the work to the consulting firm Accenture, with most of the operations moving to teams based in India.
The airline announced the restructuring on Tuesday, noting that the affected roles include finance, procurement, human resources, and marketing functions within its head office.
The transition is scheduled to begin by the middle of next year, according to the company, as it seeks to replace legacy software systems built over several decades.
Vanessa Hudson, the chief executive of Qantas, said the airline would consult with affected staff and unions before making final decisions regarding the workforce changes.
“We know this will be difficult news for some of our people and this decision is not a reflection of their contribution or commitment,” Hudson said.
The airline currently spends more than 1 billion Australian dollars annually on technology and maintains over 1,000 legacy applications that lack integrated functionality, the company reported.
“The scale and speed of change in this space is unprecedented and unlike anything businesses have seen in generations,” Hudson said.
Qantas stated that it plans to further transform these business functions using automation and artificial intelligence once the transition to Accenture is complete.
The company employs approximately 28,000 people in Australia and 4,000 globally, and it intends to offer redeployment or retraining to some of the workers affected by the cuts.
“This is hard news for some and I'm sorry for the uncertainty it brings,” Hudson said in an internal email to staff.
The announcement follows a series of major corporate layoff plans in Australia, including recent restructuring moves at National Australia Bank and the design company Canva.
The airline is currently navigating a difficult economic environment, with rising jet fuel prices linked to the conflict in Iran impacting operational costs across the industry.
It remains unclear how labor unions will respond to the outsourcing plan, as the airline has faced previous disputes regarding similar workforce changes.
Reporting from
- The GuardianBalanced
Qantas to cut 850 Australian jobs and outsource work to India under AI-driven overhaul
- BBC
Qantas to outsource 850 local jobs with most shifting to India
- Times of IndiaLeans left
Australian airline Qantas to axe 850 jobs at HQ, shift work to India
How this article was made: Headlinne wrote it with AI from the 3 reports listed above. Direct quotes are checked word for word against those reports, every number appears in at least one of them, and no other sentence is copied from one. Photos are from those reports and credited to them. Each report’s page on Headlinne links to the outlet’s original.