Qantas to stand down 2500 as lockdowns bite

Qantas and Jetstar will stand down 2500 staff without pay until domestic flying rebounds from crippling lockdowns.

Lockdowns have forced Qantas to stand down workers again. Picture: James Gourley

Crippling restrictions on domestic flying will see 2500 Qantas and Jetstar workers stood down in the next fortnight until lockdowns ease and borders reopen.

The pilots, cabin crew and airport staff will join more than 6000 international division ­employees who have been stood down since March last year, as the Qantas Group braces for Sydney’s lockdown to last another two months.

Announcing the move, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said the airline was operating at 40 per cent of pre-Covid capacity, compared to nearly 100 per cent in May, and said he feared that could drop further if Queensland’s lockdown spread statewide.

All stood-down workers would be eligible for a weekly $750 government payment, announced by Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce on Monday.

Mr Joyce denied the airline’s international workers would feel short-changed by their $500-a-week allowance, in place since JobKeeper ended in March.

“A lot of (international) employees have found secondary employment so the $500 payment is designed for that,” he said.

“The domestic workers have stopped secondary employment to come back to work, so we think ($750 a week) is the appropriate level.”

Unions were adamant the $750 payment should be made available to all stood-down aviation workers, including those employed by contractors.

Transport Workers Union ­national secretary Michael Kaine said the government and Qantas were playing “Russian roulette” with aviation workers over who would be able to pay their bills and who would not.

“Anyone who has an interest in aviation will be alarmed that the federal government is clearly not in charge of aviation policy and that senior Qantas management are calling the shots,” Mr Kaine said.

“Just hours after the government reveals supports that seem tailored for Qantas, the airline announces stand-downs. There are sweet deals being cut involving public money for ­Qantas that are aimed at cutting its competitors out.”

Australian Services Union assistant secretary Emeline Gaske called for the government to clarify that all stood-down workers would be eligible for the payment.

She said assurances were needed “for ground crew, guest services, check-in staff and everyone who worked inside airports”.

“A bastardised JobKeeper system that establishes two classes of workers does not make sense and would be an act of unspeakable cruelty to those who are abandoned,” she said.

Despite low rates of domestic flying, Qantas was not planning to hibernate aircraft as it did early on in the pandemic, due to ­additional government support for maintenance.

Mr Joyce insisted Qantas had not received any special treatment from the government, saying payments had been limited to support for workers and for services such as international repatriation and freight flights.

“We’re getting through this because we’ve raised $2.6bn in debt and we’ve raised $1.4bn in equity,” he said.

“The money is coming from the debt markets, the shareholders, and that debt at least will have to be repaid.”

International repatriation flights were continuing, including services from Bali, Santiago, ­Islamabad and Turkey, he said.

Qantas was hopeful that regular commercial overseas flights would be possible in December, providing 80 per cent of the adult population was vaccinated.

Originally published as Qantas to stand down 2500 as lockdowns bite