Qantas will hire 2300 pilots, cabin crew and engineers in the next 18 months as part of a recruitment and training initiative that will see the airline re-fill thousands of roles cut during the pandemic.

The full plan is to increase headcount by up to 8500 people over the next decade – it cut around 9800 jobs in the last three years, including around 2000 baggage handlers the Federal Court found were outsourced illegally – with its total headcount to exceed pre-COVID-19 levels at 32,000 by 2033.