The nightmare of Qantas' aircraft maintenance engineers is about to happen as the flag carrier announces likely on Monday the closure of its maintenance bay at Tullamarine Airport. The shutter would lead to the axing of more than 400 jobs.

The shedding of jobs is a result of failure of negotiations with the Victorian government and Qantas decision to offshore the maintenance of its A380 superjumbo aircraft. The air carrier would also phase out its old Boeing 767s and reduce its Boeing 747 fleet with six of 25 jumbos slated for retirement.

Despite the closure of the hub, a second Victorian facility in Avalon will temporarily remain open. The plant employs 660 heavy maintenance workers who are midway on the upgrade of Boeing 747 jumbo jet interiors to meet the standard of the Airbus A380 superjumbos.

Qantas is expected to move the work on Boeing 737 jets at Tullamarine to Brisbane where work on Airbus A330 is ongoing. The air carrier estimates that 60 per cent of its heavy maintenance employees would be laid off over the next five to seven years as Qantas consolidates the different maintenance facilities to just one base.

Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce said that changes in aircraft technology meant that it had to trim its workforce and no longer could afford to keep three maintenance hubs open. He warned in February that if Qantas would preserve the status quo, it would risk the business over the long term.

The Australian Licenced Aircraft Engineers Association questioned the quality of maintenance work done overseas and insisted that it would cost $27 million for a hangar and docking facilities, while the air carrier insisted it would cost not lower than $100 million to open an A380 hangar in Australia. Mr Joyce added that Qantas's A380 fleet is too small and uneconomical to have the maintenance work done in Australia.

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