QANTAS TO CUT 6,000 JOBS

Australian flagship carrier Qantas will cut 6,000 jobs across the business and continue to stand down some 15,000 employees due to the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, Bianca De Marchi reported from Canberra for Deutsche Presse Agentur (dpa) on June 25, 2020.

Qantas said it would also ground at least 100 aircraft for up to 12 months, including most of the international fleet, and reduce costs by 15 billion Australian dollars (10.3 billion dollars) over the next three years. "We have to position ourselves for several years where revenue will be much lower. And that means becoming a smaller airline in the short term," Qantas Group chief executive Alan Joyce said Thursday.

"Most airlines will have to restructure in order to survive, which also means they'll come through this leaner and more competitive," Joyce said. The group, which owns Qantas and budget airline Jetstar, had stood down two-thirds of its 29,000 workforce in March. About 8,000 are expected to return to work before August.

Qantas has been operating at just five per cent of its pre-coronavirus domestic capacity and will scale up to 15 per cent in the coming months with the easing of COVID-19-related restrictions. The company also announced Thursday it was raising 1.9 billion dollars through a share sale. Joyce said he has been in talks with Prime Minister Scott Morrison about extending government support for the ailing airline, as well as with states to reopen borders for domestic travel. Qantas will mark 100 years of operations in November.