Qantas to stand down 20,000 staff, cut international flights

The impact of the coronavirus has seen Qantas increase the number of workers ‘surplus to requirements’ from 700 to 20,000.

Qantas aircraft at Sydney Airport on Thursday. Picture: AAP

Drastic efforts by Qantas to secure its future in the worst crisis ever to hit aviation will see the flying kangaroo disappear from international skies and two-thirds of its workforce stood down.

More than half the airline’s fleet — 150 aircraft — will be parked at airports around the country, and a number of domestic lounges closed, including the coveted invitation-only haven for VIPs known as the Chairman’s Lounge.

Payment of $201m in shareholder dividends was deferred until September, which saw the Qantas share price take another hit, falling to $2.03.

CEO Alan Joyce announced the extreme measures in response to flatlining demand as a result of the coronavirus outbreak and warned there could be worse to come.

“This is, in a lot of ways, a terrible day but we have to make these decisions,” Mr Joyce said.

“It’s about the survival of the national carrier.”

In the space of just one month, the impact of the coronavirus has seen Qantas increase the number of workers “surplus to requirements” from 700 to 20,000.

g r a p h i c

Those employees, across every sector of the airline, would be stood down until the end of May at least, without pay but with early access to long service leave or four weeks of advance annual leave.

Pilots, cabin crew, ground workers and customer service staff were likely to be hardest hit, with all A380s, 747s and 787s grounded, and most A330s.

Mr Joyce and Jetstar CEO Gareth Evans said arrangements were being made with partner Woolworths for workers to apply for temporary jobs at the supermarket until flying resumed.

“We are working with Woolworths to make the process of application as easy and straightforward as possible,” Mr Evans said.

“The whole reason we’re taking this approach is to protect jobs in the long run so when flying is back up again, everybody is still employed, still has a job and can contribute to the business.”

Domestic operations were also being pared back dramatically with a revised schedule set to be further trimmed to reflect Tasmania’s decision to impose 14-days of quarantine on all arrivals.

“It’s evolving every day, every week,” Mr Joyce said.

“We’ll have a look at the Tasmanian schedule, because there will be less demand and there will have to be capacity and aircraft coming out.

“It means more aircraft on the ground, it means more people stood down unfortunately,” Mr Joyce said.

The drastic cuts received a mixed response from unions and the Qantas share price continued to suffer, sliding to $2.03 before rallying slightly to close at $2.14, down 15 per cent for the day.

Virgin Australia shares also sank further, closing at 5.8c, on the back of Wednesday’s announcement, suspending international services and slashing domestic capacity in half.

Air New Zealand remained in a trading halt, while managers “fully assessed the operational and financial impacts of global travel restrictions”.

The carrier said on Thursday it would bring forward the closure of its London crew base, affecting 130 flight attendants, and suspend its Buenos Aires route after Argentina closed its borders.