Qantas is to stand down 20,000 workers and ground all of its international flights from the end of March as it struggles with the devastating fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
The airline made the dramatic announcement early on Thursday morning – just two days after it had said it would slash 90 per cent of international seat capacity.
“The efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus have led to a huge drop in travel demand, the likes of which we have never seen before. This is having a devastating impact on all airlines,” chief executive Alan Joyce said.
He said the airline was in a strong financial position, but had a wages bill of more than $4 billion a year.
“With the huge drop in revenue we’re facing, we have to make difficult decisions to guarantee the future of the national carrier,” he said.
“The reality is we’ll have 150 aircraft on the ground and sadly there’s no work for most of our people. Rather than lose these highly skilled employees who we’ll need when this crisis passes, we are instead standing down two-thirds of our 30,000 employees until at least the end of May.”
