Qantas will axe 5000 jobs, ditch unprofitable routes and retire ageing gas-guzzling planes in the biggest shake up of its operations since it was floated almost two decades ago.
It is the biggest cull of Qantas' staff since chief executive Alan Joyce took the reins in 2008, and will reduce the airline's workforce to about 27,000 over the next three years.
Before the latest retrenchments, Mr Joyce had announced almost 4200 job cuts during his tenure.
The airline also reported a $252 million underlying loss in the first half amid a bitter fight with Virgin Australia in the domestic market, and intense competition on international routes. It is Qantas' biggest first-half loss since the Keating government began cutting it free from government ownership in 1995.
The job cuts from Qantas's 33,000-strong workforce will be across the board. They include reducing management and back office staffing levels by about 1500. It will also wind back its aircraft maintenance operations and catering.
Qantas will also ditch flying between Perth and Singapore later this year and retire six Boeing 747 jumbos. It has also deferred the delivery of the last eight A380 super jumbos it has on order, as well as the last three of 14 new 787 Dreamliners due for Jetstar.
It will also shelve growth plans for Singaporean budget offshoot Jetstar Asia amid intense competition with other budget airlines in the region.
Qantas shares fell sharply Thursday, down about 6.5 per cent at $1.1875.
Qantas declared a statutory loss of $235 million for the six months to December, compared with a $109 million profit in the same period a year earlier. Revenue fell 4 per cent to $7.9 billion.
Qantas' domestic operations reported a 74 per cent fall in pre-tax profit to $57 million, which was blamed on intense competition in the domestic market and growth in capacity.
But it was overshadowed again by Qantas' international operations, which slumped to a $262 million loss compared with a $91 million loss previously.
