Qantas to cut 850 jobs in India outsourcing deal

Qantas has announced plans to cut 850 jobs under a new multi-year partnership with consulting firm Accenture. The airline said the redundancies would affect corporate roles within the organisation, with hundreds of positions moving overseas over coming years.

The first changes are expected to be in place by mid-2027. The initial phase of cuts will affect staff in finance, procurement, human resources and marketing teams.

“I know this is hard news for some, and I'm sorry for the uncertainty it brings.”

Some services delivered by those teams will be outsourced to Accenture workers, delivered mostly by its teams in India and some in Australia. An unspecified number of roles will be taken over by teams in India.

The job cuts affect around 3 per cent of Qantas' Australian workforce of 28,000 people. Qantas Group chief executive Vanessa Hudson sent an all-staff email announcing the cuts, describing it as hard news for some and apologising for the uncertainty it brings.

Hudson said Qantas runs on technology built up over decades, including more than 1,000 legacy applications never designed to work together. She said the partnership would allow the airline to unlock innovation faster and accelerate its use of AI.

Qantas said it would look to redeploy as many people as possible. The Australian Services Union said it was meeting with its Qantas members following the news.

Separately, Qantas said it was embarking on the largest fleet renewal in its history. The group added 17 new aircraft during the past financial year and expected up to 31 more to arrive in the year ahead, allowing it to start retiring its double-decker A380 fleet from 2028.