QANTAS will cut 5000 jobs after announcing a $235 million loss, including a $16 million loss for Jetstar.
However, details of exactly where the job losses will land remain cloudy.
The wide-ranging cuts to the Australian flagship carrier include deferring the purchase of new aircraft and mothballing ageing planes.
The Qantas announcement blamed the Jetstar loss from a $128 million profit previously on “the impact of domestic competitive pressures”.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said the final three of 14 Jetstar B787-8s on firm order would be deferred and Jetstar’s A320 order book had been restructured.
The news included the previously announced closure of the Qantas Avalon maintenance base, costing 300 jobs.
Local speculation had been mounting that the Qantas cuts would further affect Jetstar’s operations at Avalon, with destinations and numbers of flights scaled back in the last year.
A multi-million dollar deal between the budget carrier, Avalon Airport and State Government late last year aimed to secure its tenancy.
The airline said in December it was reconsidering its future at Avalon because the service was underperforming. The deal secured five flights a day until April 2015.
Australian Services Union Assistant National Secretary Linda White said the job losses were devastating for all workers at the company.
“It’s outrageous that so many Qantas and Jetstar staff are going to bear the brunt of the poor business decisions made by Qantas in recent times,” she said.
