Qantas dropped the axe on around 2,500 frontline workers on Tuesday as the impact of the Sydney lockdown in particular hit the airline’s operations and those of its Jetstar subsidiary.
Qantas said the employees will be stood down for around two months in response and is a temporary measure to deal with a drop in flying caused by COVID restrictions in Sydney and the knock-on border closures in all other states and territories.
Southeast Queensland’s extended lockdown and the growing infection numbers in that region probably made the tough Qantas decision inevitable.
Qantas emphasised that no job losses are expected.
“This is clearly the last thing we want to do, but we’re now faced with an extended period of reduced flying and that means no work for a number of our people,” Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said in a statement.
“We’ve absorbed a significant amount of cost since these recent lockdowns started and continued paying our people their full rosters despite thousands of cancelled flights.”
The decision will directly impact domestic pilots, cabin crew and airport workers, mostly in NSW but also in other states given the nature of airline networks.
Employees will be given two weeks’ notice before the stand-down takes effect, with pay continuing until mid-August.
Qantas said it welcomed the targeted Federal Government support offered for those stood down outside of declared hotspots and to retain domestic aviation capability.
Yesterday the Federal government announced airlines will be able to claim $750 a week for half of their pilots and flight attendants to prevent further job losses.
Australian airlines can claim for 50 per cent of their air crew workforce if they can show a 30% downturn since Sydney became a national COVID-19 hotspot.
Mr Joyce said Qantas and Jetstar had gone from operating almost 100 per cent of their usual domestic flying in May to less than 40 per cent in July because of lockdowns in three states.
“Hopefully, once other states open back up to South Australia and Victoria in the next week or so, and the current outbreak in Brisbane is brought under control, our domestic flying will come back to around 50 to 60 per cent of normal levels,” he said in the statement.
Based on current case numbers, Mr Joyce said it was reasonable to assume that Sydney’s borders will be closed for at least another two months.
