SYDNEY: Qantas Airways Ltd. announced plans to cut up to 2,500 more jobs by outsourcing its Australian ground handling operations to lower costs as it braces for a A$10 billion ($7.17 billion) revenue hit due to the pandemic this financial year.
The job cuts flagged on Tuesday are on top of 6,000 across its workforce announced in June, which would take the total job losses to nearly 30% of its pre-pandemic staffing.
Qantas’ head of domestic operations Andrew David said outsourcing ground handling jobs at the country’s biggest airports would save an estimated A$100 million each year in operating costs.
“It would match our ground handling services with fluctuating levels of demand,” David told reporters at a briefing. “We know an external party can turn our aircraft at 40% lower cost than we can using our resources.”
It would also allow the airline to avoid investing A$100 million in equipment like tugs and bag loaders over the next five years by outsourcing the work to a specialist ground handler, Gareth Evans, Chief Executive of Jetstar, Qantas’ budget arm, said.
The executives did not name the firms that could be involved in the outsourcing, but major ground handlers in Australia include dnata, Swissport and Menzies Aviation.
Qantas shares were up 1.7% on Tuesday afternoon, compared with a 0.2% rise in the broader market.
As part of a union agreement, Qantas said it would also have to offer the opportunity for the 2,000 ground handlers at its main brand to bid for the work, though it will not have to do so at Jetstar.
The airline said it would complete its review over the next few months. Most of its ground handling employees have been stood down from work for months and are receiving government aid due to the decline in travel demand.
Transport Workers’ Union National Secretary Michael Kaine, whose union represents the ground handlers, said in a statement the announcement of job losses was “utterly devastating.”
Qantas cutting up to 2,500 jobs as it outsources ground handling in Australia
https://arab.news/2uc2d
Qantas cutting up to 2,500 jobs as it outsources ground handling in Australia
- Outsourcing ground handling jobs at the country’s biggest airports would save an estimated A$100 million each year in operating costs
- Qantas shares were up 1.7% on Tuesday afternoon, compared with a 0.2% rise in the broader market
European gas prices soar almost 50% as Iran conflict halts Qatar LNG output
- Analysts warn prolonged disruption could push prices higher
- Some shipments of oil, LNG through Strait of Hormuz suspended
- Benchmark Asian LNG price up almost 39 percent
LONDON: Benchmark Dutch and British wholesale gas prices soared by almost 50 percent on Monday, after major liquefied natural gas exporter Qatar Energy said it had halted production due to attacks in the Middle East.
Qatar, soon to cement its role as the world’s second largest LNG exporter after the US, plays a major role in balancing both Asian and European markets’ demand of LNG.
Most tanker owners, oil majors and trading houses have suspended crude oil, fuel and liquefied natural gas shipments via the Strait of Hormuz, trade sources said, after Tehran warned ships against moving through the waterway.
Europe has increased imports of LNG over the past few years as it seeks to phase out Russian gas following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Around 20 percent of the world’s LNG transits through the Strait of Hormuz and a prolonged suspension or full closure would increase global competition for other sources of the gas, driving up prices internationally.
“Disruptions to LNG flows would reignite competition between Asia and Europe for available cargoes,” said Massimo Di Odoardo, vice president, gas and LNG research at Wood Mackenzie.
The Dutch front-month contract at the TTF hub, seen as a benchmark price for Europe, was up €14.56 at €46.52 per megawatt hour, or around $15.92/mmBtu, by 12:55 p.m. GMT, ICE data showed.
Prices were already some 25 percent higher earlier in the day but extended gains after QatarEnergy’s production halt.
Benchmark Asian LNG prices jumped almost 39 percent on Monday morning with the S&P Global Energy Japan-Korea-Marker, widely used as an Asian LNG benchmark, at $15.068 per million British thermal units, Platts data showed.
“If LNG/gas markets start to price in an extended period of losses to Qatari LNG supply, TTF could potentially spike to 80-100 euros/MWh ($28-35/mmBtu),” Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING, said. The British April contract was up 40.83 pence at 119.40 pence per therm, ICE data showed.
Europe is also relying on LNG imports to help fill its gas storage sites which have been depleted over the winter and are currently around 30 percent full, the latest data from Gas Infrastructure Europe showed. In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract was down €1.10 at €69.17 a tonne
