Qantas Grounding 100 Aircraft, Retiring 747s
by Charles Alcock
– June 25, 2020, 10:22 AM
Qantas has unveiled a three-year recovery plan through which it aims to cut costs by A$15 billion ($10.4 billion) by a mix of measures including 6,000 job cuts and the grounding of around 100 aircraft for at least 12 months. In a June 25 statement, the company also said it will seek to raise around $1.3 billion through a new equity issue.
The airline is immediately retiring its six remaining Boeing 747s, six months ahead of schedule. Most of the 100 grounded aircraft will be part of Qantas’s international fleet and some of these may be returned to lessors. Planned deliveries of new Airbus A321neos and Boeing 787-9s have been deferred.
“We have to position ourselves for several years where revenue will be much lower. And that means becoming a smaller airline in the short term,” said Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce.
The airline, which has 29,000 employees people, will have . . .