Qantas to axe 1000 jobs in next year as it predicts half-year loss of up to $300m

Qantas aircraft on the tarmac at Sydney's international airport. Photograph: Greg Wood/AFP/Getty Images

Qantas will axe 1000 jobs in the next 12 months, after forecasting a half-year pre-tax loss of between $250m and $300m.

The airline's financial troubles have again sparked talk of a possible government bailout after the treasurer Joe Hockey's call for a debate on the airline's foreign investment restrictions.

The independent senator Nick Xenophon called for the heads of Qantas chief Alan Joyce and its board, saying the crisis facing the airline was "of their own making".
"Why should 1,000 Qantas employees and their families be sacrificed for the failed strategy of Joyce, [chairman Leigh] Clifford and the board?"

Xenophon criticised the "bean counters" who had trashed the airline and jeopardised the future of 30,000 workers.

Before the federal government considered any bailout requests, it should take a forensic look at the books produced by the current management team, he said.

"The Jetstar Asia experiment – first implemented by Alan Joyce as Jetstar CEO – has been an abject financial disaster," Xenophon said.

The Greens said there was a good case for federal government intervention to support the airline, but only if it benefited taxpayers.

The Greens deputy leader, Adam Bandt, said while he believed there was a good case for government intervention, it had to be done on the basis of securing jobs and value for taxpayers “to make sure that ... Australians get the benefits of it, and they don't flow overseas".

Bandt said Qantas had to compete against foreign airlines that benefited from government support.

The federal government had to find out why the airline was losing so much money, he said, "and what we can do to fix it".

Source: The Guardian