News
Qantas Group furloughs 2,500 employees
August 3rd 2021
Qantas Group said today 2,500 staff, including airport workers and cabin and cockpit crew, would be stood down without pay as stay-at-home orders in several Australian states due to COVID-19 outbreaks have decreased flying activity. Read More » “This is clearly the last thing we want to do, but we are faced with an extended period of reduced flying and that means no work for a number of our people," Qantas Group CEO, Alan Joyce, said. Qantas and Jetstar have cut capacity to about 40% of 2019 levels, from 100% in May. The greater Sydney region is in the seventh week of stay-at-home orders, while parts of southern Queensland have been in lockdown since late last week. Adelaide and Melbourne recently emerged from lockdown. "Based on current case numbers, it’s reasonable to assume Sydney’s borders will be closed for at least another two months," Joyce said. "We know it will take a few weeks after the outbreak is under control before other states open to New South Wales and normal travel can resume."
In other Australian aviation news, the government yesterday extended its support packages for the local aviation sector, with the announcement the domestic aviation network support and regional airline network support programs will remain in place until the end of 2021.
