Qantas to move 400 tech jobs to India - plans to cut 1,500 jobs

QANTAS Airways, is moving up to 400 information-technology (IT) jobs to India, and planning to cut more than 1,500 jobs by year-end as part of larger efforts to cut costs.
 
To cope with a shortage of skilled workers, two Indian companies, Tata Consulting Services and Satyam Computer Services, have been short listed to take over the technology work, Australia's biggest airline said yesterday.
 
Qantas also plans to sack more than 1,500 staff by Dec 31, including management, administration and maintenance workers.
 
Its profit fell 58 per cent in the six months to June 30 from a year earlier on employee retrenchment costs and record jet fuel prices.
 
Satyam has already won a contract to provide payroll technology services to the airline this year.
 
'Qantas is finalising a review of its IT development, maintenance and support services,' the airline said in a statement.
 
The review, which The Sun-Herald newspaper earlier said would be completed within three weeks, involves between 300 and 400 workers providing services such as Internet bookings, frequent flier programmes, financial systems and operational logistics.
 
The shortlisted Indian companies 'have the capability and the depth of expertise that we can no longer source in Australia', Qantas said.
 
Australia's unemployment rate was 4.9 per cent in August, near a 30-year low, creating a shortage of skilled workers in many industries.
Mr Geoff Dixon, Qantas's chief executive, has promised to trim A$3 billion (S$3.58 billion) from fixed spending by mid-2008 through cutting jobs and using his lower-cost discount carrier, Jetstar.
 
The airline's fuel spending was A$2.8 billion last year, compared with A$1.9 billion in the previous financial year, the company said on Aug 17. The cost of sacking 1,245 workers in the 12 months to June 30 was A$182 million, and another A$200 million will be spent on retrenchment expenses in this financial year.
 
Qantas said in May it will sack 1,000 management and administration staff by Dec 31. About 325 flight attendants will also lose their jobs this year, according to newspaper reports that same month.
 
The airline closed its maintenance base in Sydney in March, axing 480 jobs. No decision has yet been made on the closing of its Melbourne 737 heavy maintenance base, which would see another 1,000 workers lose their jobs, a company spokesman said yesterday.