Qantas Airline Will Slash Jobs, Cut Flying Time

Qantas, Australia’s international airline, is in a financially critical position and will slash jobs and flying hours in a bid to remain competitive, the airline’s chief executive, John Ward, said today.

“Our financial position has reached a critical point where immediate action is necessary to contain costs and improve our competitiveness,” Ward said in a statement.

“This is not just a short-term situation. It is part of a longer-term imperative.”

On Thursday, the Labor government said it planned to sell 49% of the state-owned airline and will allow foreign investors to buy up to 35% of Qantas.

Qantas will cut 500 jobs from its 17,000-strong work force by the end of February, sell five Boeing 747 aircraft earlier than originally planned and cut its originally intended flying hours by 14%, Ward said.

Ward said Qantas’ competitiveness had been eroded by rising world oil prices because of the Persian Gulf crisis. The airline’s fuel bill in 1990-91 will rise by an estimated $250 million.

On Thursday, Singapore Airlines, until recently rated one of the world’s most profitable airlines, said the gulf crisis had made its future “grim.”

Australian airlines were financially savaged by an eight-month pilots’ dispute that ended in early 1990, cutting inbound tourism, which is only now recovering.