Qantas overhauls top leadership team as corporate job losses confirmed
Pre-Christmas job cuts loom at Qantas after the airline downsized its leadership team in a major restructure targeting customer service improvements.
Qantas is restructuring its top tier in a move that will downsize the group leadership team and lead to job losses throughout the airline’s corporate offices.
In the first instance, chief executive officer Vanessa Hudson is expanding the responsibilities of her executives responsible for Loyalty, International and Domestic to ensure a greater focus on customer.
Qantas Domestic chief Markus Svensson will assume responsibility for QantasLink and oversee customer care and recovery including contact centres.
Mark del Pra will report to Mr Svensson as the new QantasLink CEO, however the role will no longer have group leadership team status.
Loyalty boss Andrew Glance will have customer strategy and insights added to his job description in a reflection of the vast amount of data his sector collects from 18 million frequent flyer members.
Qantas International CEO Cam Wallace will take charge of the airline’s in-flight and onground products and services including lounges.
As a result he will oversee teams responsible for food and beverage, cabin layouts, service design and new seats for Qantas aircraft, as well as direct channels and payments teams.
Ms Hudson has also seen fit to create a new chief technology, AI and transformation officer role in her group leadership team, to ensure a “consistent approach to technology” across the company.
Former QantasLink CEO Rachel Yangoyan will take on the role, with the changes effective immediately.
The restructure follows the departure of chief customer officer Catriona Larritt whose responsibilities are now shared across the executive team which will reduce from 13 to 12.
An email to Qantas staff about the changes advised that the new leadership teams “would now be reviewing their team structures, to ensure we are structured as efficiently as possible in corporate head office roles”.
“We recognise that leadership changes create uncertainty, particularly for those in the affected functions,” said the email.
“Your managers will be your first point of contact for questions about what this means for your team specifically.”
A Qantas spokesman confirmed there would be job losses but was not willing to put a figure on the number of people facing pre-Christmas farewells.
He stressed that no front-line workers would be affected.
The staff email said employees would have an opportunity at a “town hall meeting” next Thursday to hear more about the new structure would work and answer questions.
“These changes will help us continue delivering for our customers while supporting you to do your best work,” said the email.
Changes to the executive bonus scheme last year, saw “customer” given a greater weighting following a corporate governance review.
It means customer satisfaction measured by a “net promoter score” accounts for 30 per cent of the group scorecard, up from 10 per cent.
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Originally published as Qantas overhauls top leadership team as corporate job losses confirmed
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