Qantas job cuts hit headquarters amid leadership rejig

Qantas head office staff are learning this week if their roles will be axed as the airline beds down chief executive Vanessa Hudson’s restructure of its corporate operations, with up to 50 roles expected to go.

In early December, Qantas announced it would reduce its group leadership team size as part of an effort to simplify its structure, and the changes are now flowing through the airline’s headquarters in Mascot near Sydney airport.

Between 20 and 50 jobs at the airline headquarters are being cut, prompting “significant frustration” from staff, a source close to the process said.

“Communication in the process has been poor”, and there had been no consistency in how employees were learning of their terminations, they said.

In a statement, Qantas “confirmed the reductions in corporate head office employees relate to the restructure announced in December, with conversations with some affected individuals taking place this week”.

In December, Qantas said that the rejigged leadership teams would immediately “be reviewing their team structures, along with other members of the [group leadership team] and their teams, to ensure we are structured as efficiently as possible in corporate head office roles”.

At the time of the December announcement, Qantas was coy on the number of layoffs that would be included. The changes eliminated Catriona Larritt’s role as chief customer officer while simplifying reporting lines across the ranks of leadership.

Chief of Qantas loyalty, Andrew Glance, took charge of group customer strategy, while Cam Wallace, Qantas International CEO, began oversight of in-flight and on-ground products and services, including lounges at the premium carrier.

He also took responsibility for teams in charge of food and beverage, cabin layouts, service design and new seats for its aircraft ahead of Qantas’ launch of the Project Sunrise ultra-long-haul flights tipped to begin next year.

Outgoing QantasLink chief Rachel Yangoyan assumed the new role of chief technology, AI and transformation officer, which oversees “AI strategy, data and analytics and enterprise technology driven transformation programs”.

Qantas said that elevating the chief technology role to the group leadership team ensured the company had “a consistent approach to technology across the group, with clearer priorities and faster decisions on where we invest”.

Qantas Domestic CEO Markus Svensson took over customer care and recovery, including contact centres, as well as QantasLink.

Qantas will provide its half-year results update on February 26. Last year, Qantas’ underlying earnings reached $2.39 billion, up 15 per cent on robust demand for leisure travel, dramatic growth from low-cost carrier Jetstar, and a firm outlook.

Several unions representing Qantas staff were contacted for comment.

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