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The Qantas Group this morning announced it would suspend two-thirds of its 30,000 staff and cancel all international flights from late March.
The unprecedented announcement is the most dramatic in the airline’s 100-year history, and follows the Prime Minister’s advice on Wednesday discouraging all international travel for all Australians.
Read more below and click the links to see our in-depth coverage:
- Chief executive Alan Joyce tells suspended workers they might be able to work at Woolworths.
- The Transport and Workers Union accused Qantas of asking its employees to bail out the airline by facing a choice between taking leave balances or going without pay.
- In-full: every route and flight suspension and reduction revealed across Qantas mainline and regional network, plus Jetstar domestic and New Zealand.
- Shares in Qantas slumped to just $2.26 – a five-year low.
Early on Thursday, the airline announced Qantas and Jetstar would suspend two-thirds of its 30,000 employees until “at least” the end of May.
During what the business is terming a “stand down”, employees will be able to:
- Drawdown annual and long-service leave;
- Take leave at half pay;
- Have early access to long-service leave;
- If their leave balances are low, they can have access to four weeks leave in advance of accruing it; and
- Access ‘additional support mechanisms’.
With the federal government raising travel advice to level 4, advising no Australians to leave the country, Qantas has decided to suspend all international travel.
Flights will continue until late March to assist with “repatriation” and will then be suspended until at least the end of May 2020.
More than 150 aircraft will be temporarily grounded, including all of Qantas’ Airbus A380s, Boeing 747s and 787-9s, and Jetstar’s Boeing 787-8s.
The airline is currently in discussions with airports about parking the aircraft. Domestic, regional and freight connections will be maintained “as much as possible”, with some passengers planes used for freight, too.
The network changes are outlined in full by Australian Aviation here. However, in brief:
- All regularly scheduled Qantas and Jetstar international flights from Australia will be suspended from the end of March until at least the end of May 2020. Some flights may continue to maintain key links, based on ongoing discussions with the federal government;
- Jetstar Asia (Singapore) will suspend all flights from 23 March to at least 15 April 2020;
- Jetstar Japan has suspended international flights and cut domestic flying; and
- Jetstar Pacific (Vietnam) has suspended international flights and will significantly cut domestic flying.
Qantas has pledged it will maintain routes to almost all Australian domestic and regional destinations that Qantas, Jetstar and QantasLink operate to. The 60 per cent reduction in capacity will predominately come from a reduction in flight frequency, rather than cancellations of routes outright, the business said.
Senior management executives and the whole board have joined Joyce in going without pay until the end of the financial year. All management bonuses have been cancelled.
Payments of the shareholder dividend announced on 20 February will be delayed from 9 April to 1 September, in addition to the cancellation of the off-market buyback.
At midday on Thursday, shares were trading at $2.26 – a five-year low. Shares were trading at $7.32 in December 2019.
Joyce released a sombre statement announcing the news.
He said, “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.
“We’re in a strong financial position right now, but our wages bill is 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.
“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.
“Most of our people will be using various types of paid leave during this time, and we’ll have a number of support options in place. We’re also talking to our partners like Woolworths about temporary job opportunities for our people.
“This is a very hard set of circumstances for our people, as it is for lots of parts of the community right now.
“No airline in the world is immune to this, with the world’s leading carriers making deep cuts to flying schedules and jobs. Our strong balance sheet means we’ve entered this crisis in better shape than most and we’re taking action to make sure we can ride this out.
“Since this crisis started, there has been overwhelming support from our customers. That gives me even more confidence that we’ll get through this.”
Colin Chilcott
says:What will be very interesting is what Qantas’ views will be towards Frequent Flyers and their individual Tier Status given the current environment. Reduced schedules and Border restrictions will certainly make travelling by air difficult. Will make it challenging for most Frequent Flyers to maintain their current status level, let alone move up to the next. Would Qantas perhaps provide a gesture by allowing all of it’s Frequent Flyers to maintain their present status for a further 12 months post each individual’s expiry date, once travel restrictions are lifted after the Covid-19 threat has passed?
Jack
says:Colin who cares ? We’re at “war” with the virus & you are worried about tier status.
You should be worried about whether Qantas survives at all.
Doug Green
says:Priorities….. priorities…….
Peter P
says:@ Colin Chilcott
Both Qantas and Virgin have already announced they will both be extending their customers’ status by 12 months, as per
https://www.executivetraveller.com/news/qantas-extends-silver-gold-platinum-frequent-flyer-status
j
says:Pretty sure they already announced that they are doing that? extending it for 1 year……
PaulE
says:Not an auspicious birthday is it?
David Heath
says:I received an email earlier today extending my current status level for 12 months (no effect, as I’m lifetime Silver!)… however it was vague as to whether I have additional time to regain gold – my assumption is that I now have extra time to accumulate the status credits needed to get back to Gold.
John
says:these union guys are obviously not very bright. What would they rather do ? Have everyone on full pay for a month, then Qantas closes down for good ? Seriously.
ian
says:just saw $699 return fare SYD/LAX direct January 4, 2021, back January 19, 2021. Kids $520.
Better jump on these fast.
There is a credit card surcharge.
Robert
says:Colin,
Read the below update from Qantas:
https://www.qantas.com/au/en/frequent-flyer/status-and-clubs/status/status-extension.html
Thanks
Jack Chomley
says:They ripped me off for 177,000 points 2 years ago, current points holders will probably get the same treatment many of us got 2 years ago.
I only feel sorry for the employees who will suffer as a result of this. The corporate side of it? I don’t care and feel great Schadenfreude.
Out of the Country
says:Qantas this morning already granted a 12 month extension of status to it QFFers.
Jennifer Baguley
says:I sincerely hope Qantas will give 1st priority to their staff. We fly qantas because the pilots and staff are the best in the world. Do support the staff. Next please reward us for our respect & dedication by maintaining our tier status.
Highly paid Qantas representatives should set an example of compassion. I know they believe they deserve the high salaries but with out their amazing pilots etc they would have nothing to boast about. Forget greed take only the income you need to sustain your self .
Jennifer Baguley
Craigy
says:@ Colin, Qantas sent out an email to frequent flyers today covering the issues you have raised. It said:
The impacts of Coronavirus are unprecedented and continue to evolve on a daily basis.
Among the many impacts, we know your travel plans have been affected. We appreciate the need for flexibility during this time and the importance of preserving the travel benefits that you’ve earned through your loyalty to us.
To give you one less thing to worry about right now, your Qantas Frequent Flyer Silver status will automatically be extended for 12 months. The extension will be actioned in two phases – if your membership year ends:
• between March and June 2020, it will be automatically extended by 27 March 2020; and
• between July 2020 and February 2021, it will be automatically extended by 9 April 2020.
Your Membership Year end date is located in My Account or the Qantas App. If you have more questions visit qantas.com/statusextension. There is no need to register or call the contact centre, we will take care of everything.
In addition, while you’re spending less time in the air, we’ll be keeping Status Credits within reach through a series of new offers from our program partners. This will allow you to earn Status Credits across the Qantas Frequent Flyer program in addition to flying. You’ll be hearing about the first of these offers very soon.
It will be interesting to see where the wide body fleet of both Qantas and The impacts of Coronavirus are unprecedented and continue to evolve on a daily basis.
Among the many impacts, we know your travel plans have been affected. We appreciate the need for flexibility during this time and the importance of preserving the travel benefits that you’ve earned through your loyalty to us.
To give you one less thing to worry about right now, your Qantas Frequent Flyer Silver status will automatically be extended for 12 months. The extension will be actioned in two phases – if your membership year ends:
• between March and June 2020, it will be automatically extended by 27 March 2020; and
• between July 2020 and February 2021, it will be automatically extended by 9 April 2020.
Your Membership Year end date is located in My Account or the Qantas App. If you have more questions visit qantas.com/statusextension. There is no need to register or call the contact centre, we will take care of everything.
In addition, while you’re spending less time in the air, we’ll be keeping Status Credits within reach through a series of new offers from our program partners. This will allow you to earn Status Credits across the Qantas Frequent Flyer program in addition to flying. You’ll be hearing about the first of these offers very soon.
It will be interesting to see where the Qantas and Virgin widebody fleet are stored during the grounding considering the ongoing maintenance of systems required when not in long term storage. Just as a guess, I think 3-4 A380s will be stored at the Qantas facility in LA. The rest of the A330, B777, B744 and A380 in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.
Alex
says:20,000 workers are being forced to use all their leave, or go without pay. Given that context, who cares if you lose your frequent flyer status Colin.
Greg Peacock
says:That was announced yesterday by Olivia worth . Status is being extended by one year
Peter
says:What an incredibly self considered comment. At the moment Qantas is working out how to survive the next 6 months or so without revenue, and Qantas staff are working out how to pay their mortgage. But Colin is worried about his Tier Status!
Evan
says:Yes, they will do that. In fact they already have…
Gary
says:So do we have a Virgin running commentary or are we so obsessed by the useless Qantas that nothing else matters…?
Dave
says:Colin, perhaps lets stop thinking about your frequent flyer status and whether you get to smile smugly as you board first, and consider the health of everybody first and the fact that a lot of hard working people will not be getting paid for a while. Maybe they’re less interested in giving you some freebies as a customer, and seeing what they can do for their staff with whatever money they have left.
Anyway, check your emails for an answer.
James Fallon
says:Colin Chilcott, you are exactly what is wrong with this world… the whole planet on the verge of collapsing and you thinking about your frequent flyer points…
Hats off mate and a standing ovation for smartest comment.
Doug
says:Thousands of QF employees and millions more wondering about their short and long-term futures, and you’re wondering about your freebies. I’d suggest most people have bigger fish to fry.