Qantas Confirms Loss of 500 Jobs

Qantas confirmed on Monday that it will shutter is maintenance hub in Melbourne, which meant engineering jobs would be lost.

However, the announcement brought to 500, and not 400 as earlier reported, the number of posts to be slashed as the flag carrier consolidates its facilities in Brisbane and Avalon Airport.

All 422 jobs at the plant in Tullamarine Airport would be axed and another 133 positions at Avalon will also go. The latter, however, will continue to operate as maintenance facility for Qantas's Boeing 747 jumbo fleet with 660 employees.

Australian Licenced Aircraft Engineers Association President Paul Cousins accused Qantas of destroying the aviation industry in Victoria step by step. He said that while Avalon is being kept open, he believes it will be a slow death for that facility once the air carrier starts to phase out its fleet of 747 jets.

Since the Tullamarine facility performs only maintenance work on single-aisle Boeing 737 fleet, the task will be moved to the Brisbane plant which has 400 workers.

Qantas said it could not afford to operate three maintenance facilities in Australia due to lesser maintenance work needed by the newer jets. The firm estimates the one-off cost of the Tullamarine hub at $30 million.

"We absolutely believe that at the end of the day - we are not sure when exactly, when that timeframe will be - that Qantas will have one consolidated heavy maintenance base facility in Australia.... But now is not the time for us to call on that," The Age quoted Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce.

He stressed that there would be no aircraft maintenance jobs that would go offshore due to the decision to close its Tullamarine hub.

Following the Qantas confirmation, Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten expressed concern about the impact of the air carrier's move on the long-term skills capacity of Australia's aviation industry. Opposition spokesman for families Kevin Andrews pointed out that the Qantas redundancy move is the 53^rd major job loss announcement across the country since January 2012 with more than 10,000 jobs shed.