Qantas halts flights 'til May

THE flying kangaroo has been grounded with Qantas and Jetstar now axing all international flights and standing down two thirds of its workforce.

More than 160 aircraft will be grounded including all of its big A380s and 747s with 60 per cent of domestic flights already cut. Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said: “With the huge drop in revenue we’re facing, we have to make difficult decisions to guarantee the future of the national carrier.”

He said two-thirds of the 30,000 strong workforce was being stood down with many taking long term leave.

“This is a terrible day,” he said. “I never thought as the national CEO that I would have to stand down two thirds of our people.”

Mr Joyce said “this is the biggest crisis aviation has ever gone through” and that tough decisions were being taken to ensure the national carrier was ready to ramp up when the crisis passes.

“The reality is we’ll have 150 aircraft on the ground and sadly there’s no work for most of our people,” Mr Joyce said.

Pilots and crew of all the wide bodied aircraft - the A380s, 747s and 787s - were among those being stood down with their aircraft among those being parked at airport gates around the nation.

“Rather than lose these highly skilled employees who we’ll need when this crisis passes, we are instead standing down two-thirds of our 30,000 employees until at least the end of May,” Mr Joyce said.

“Most of our people will be using various types of paid leave during this time, and we’ll have a number of support options in place.”

Mr Joyce said Woolworths boss Brad Banducci had contacted him to see if Qantas hosties could work in customer service and baggage handlers could stock shelves until the airline was back in the air.

Qantas has an annual wages bill of more than $4 billion. Senior executives and the board have now joined Mr Joyce in taking no pay until the end of the financial year. Bonuses have also been axed.