Qantas Moves 850 Corporate Jobs to Accenture, Mostly in India

Qantas plans to cut 850 corporate jobs in Australia and hand the work to the consulting firm Accenture, with most of the roles moving to India, the airline announced Tuesday. The Guardian and the BBC both reported the move, which Qantas ties to a larger push into technology and artificial intelligence.

CEO Vanessa Hudson told staff in an internal email, according to the BBC, that the news was hard for some employees and that she was sorry for the uncertainty it brings. The first changes are due to take effect around the middle of next year, the Guardian reported, and the airline says it will consult with affected staff and unions before final decisions are made.

What Qantas is changing

Qantas said it has signed a multi-year agreement with Accenture to modernize its back-end systems, processes and data. Some of the services will be transferred to Accenture's large team in India, according to the Guardian.

The BBC reported that the job reductions will begin in mid-2027 and start with finance, procurement, people and marketing roles. Hudson said those functions would move mostly to teams in India, with some staying in Australia. Reports differ slightly in how they describe the 850 positions: the Guardian calls them job cuts, while the BBC describes them as jobs being outsourced to Accenture.

Hudson said Qantas spends more than AU$1 billion a year on technology and that its back-end systems need to be upgraded. She said the airline runs on technology built up over decades, including more than 1,000 legacy applications that were never designed to work together. The deal, she said, will let Qantas redesign and simplify parts of how its corporate functions work and reduce duplication, so staff can spend more time on work that creates value for customers and the business.

Qantas said that over time, the work Accenture takes over will be transformed further with automation and AI. The airline employs about 28,000 people in Australia and another 4,000 globally, and it says thousands of its staff already use AI in their daily work, the BBC reported.

What Hudson said

Hudson described the pace of technological change as unprecedented, saying businesses have not seen anything like it in generations. She said the decision is not a reflection of employees' contribution or commitment, according to the Guardian.

Why it matters for Australian workers

The Guardian reported that the Qantas plan is the third major corporate layoff announcement in Australia in three weeks. The design company Canva and National Australia Bank have also flagged restructuring. Counting NAB with 2,500 roles, Canva with 1,200 and Qantas with 850, about 4,550 corporate jobs have been targeted for cuts, relocations or restructuring in the past month, the newspaper said.

The announcement lands at a hard time for the job market. The Guardian said living costs are surging and the unemployment rate has reached its highest level in nearly five years. A subdued economy, made worse by elevated oil prices, is also pushing companies to cut costs.

The corporate roles affected are in office functions rather than flying or airport operations, and the sources do not say that flights or customer service will change as a result of the deal.

Fuel costs and the airline's finances

The announcement came days after Qantas gave a market update that flagged fare increases and flight cuts amid higher fuel costs, the BBC reported. The Guardian said rising jet fuel prices have been partly offset by ticket sales to new customers who switched to Qantas after canceling flights on airlines with Middle East stopovers. In that update, Qantas said customer demand was proving resilient but that it would keep adjusting fares and capacity in response to fuel costs.

What happens next

Qantas says it will talk with affected employees and unions before finalizing the plan. The Guardian said the changes are expected to draw a strong response from unions that have previously fought the airline over controversial outsourcing decisions. The BBC said it had contacted the Australian Services Union for comment.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by The Guardian, BBC News, ABC News (Australia)