QANTAS considers moving headquarters
Faced with international travel bans and closed state borders, QANTAS is scrambling to cut costs amid the coronavirus pandemic, and their plans to shake-up the company may have dire consequences for Jetstar’s Melbourne-based headquarters.
Business
Don't miss out on the headlines from Business. Followed categories will be added to My News.
QANTAS Airways will slim down its corporate office footprint in a move which could see it consolidate its headquarters around a single site in Melbourne or Sydney.
The head office overhaul, which will impact close to 7000 workers, comes as the Flying Kangaroo works to slash its cost base amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Qantas on Tuesday said it is reviewing the location of its key offices which may result in bringing together one or more of its facilities in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
The review will primarily focus on the Qantas headquarters at Mascot in Sydney, the Jetstar headquarters in Collingwood in Melbourne and the group’s heavy maintenance facilities in Brisbane.
It is also likely to spark competition among state governments to lure in one of the nation’s most high-profile corporates.
Around 5000 workers are housed in the Sydney headquarters, about 1000 in Melbourne’s Jetstar office while 750 people are employed at the Brisbane maintenance facility.
Qantas chief financial officer Vanessa Hudson said the impact of COVID meant “we’ll be a much smaller company for a while”.
“As well as simply rightsizing the amount of space we have, there are opportunities to consolidate some facilities and unlock economies of scale,” she said.
“For instance, we could co-locate the Qantas and Jetstar head offices in a single place rather than splitting them across Sydney and Melbourne.
“Most of our activities and facilities are anchored to the airports we fly to, but anything that can reasonably move without impacting our operations or customers is on the table as part of this review.”
Ms Hudson said the airline would also consider Western Sydney Airport as a location.
“We’re open minded about the outcome,” she said.
“It’s possible that our HQ stays where it is but becomes a lot smaller, and other facilities consolidate elsewhere. Or we could wind up with a single, all-purpose campus that brings together many different parts of the group.
“The Qantas group will remain one of the country’s largest employers and a major generator of economic activity, so we’re keen to engage with state governments on any potential incentives as part of our decision making.”
Ms Hudson said there are no intentions to offshore facilities and a decision on the airline’s corporate footprint is expected to be made within three months.
Any relocations are likely to be staggered, potentially over years, dependent on what options are taken up, she said.
Qantas has also hired Colliers International to sublease about 25,000 square metres of surplus office space across Mascot, the Melbourne CBD and Hobart.
The Melbourne space is a floor at 333 Collins which houses about 80 to 100 loyalty program and sales staff who are working from home.
The restructure at Qantas follows Virgin Australia telling its staff on Monday that another 150 jobs would be cut from its already downsized head office.