Unions fret about Qantas jobs

Qantas's decision to review the number of first- and business-class seats on its long-haul fleet has been interpreted as a sign of the seriousness of the slump in corporate traffic, raising doubts about whether the airline expects demand for seats at the front end of aircraft to fully recover.

The Board of Airline Representatives, on behalf of international airlines flying to and from Australia, including Virgin Blue and Qantas, said yesterday it could take between six and 12 months before there was a recovery in business traffic.

The international flight attendants' union said it had told its members to prepare for compulsory redundancies by the middle of next year in the absence of a substantial recovery.

So far Qantas has resisted cutting cabin crew from its Australian workforce, instead opting for measures such as leave without pay, a shift from full-time to part-time work, and staff taking long-term leave.

The union said the latter measure had almost been exhausted.

"If the situation continues for another six months or so ... then we are looking at a very serious situation," the divisional secretary of the Flight Attendants Association of Australia, Michael Mijatov, said yesterday.

"Qantas hasn't been pessimistic in its public pronouncements, but in terms of their actions [such as reconfiguring first- and business-class seating] you can see how serious it is. Competition is fierce and the air fares are just uneconomic - you can't run airlines on these fares."

Qantas's international routes, particularly those to Europe and the United States, have been hit hardest by the global downturn.

The airline closed its cabin crew base in Bangkok - one of three overseas - in August, leading to 123 Thais losing their jobs.

Qantas has already laid off up to 3250 workers over the past two years and in August announced $1.5 billion in spending cuts over three years, including $500 million this financial year.

It follows $3 billion in cuts over the previous five years.

Linda White, assistant national secretary of the Australian Services Union, said she was more optimistic and the likelihood of further redundancies had eased.

The chief of corporate affairs at Qantas, David Epstein, said it was premature to be talking about redundancies after a stabilisation in trading conditions.

"We are confident that the contingency plans we have put in place over the last 12 months have put the organisation in a stronger position," he said. "As the market improves, Qantas is well positioned to take advantage of any upturn in business."