Qantas to cut 850 jobs in AI-driven overhaul, with most roles moving to India

Australian airline Qantas is outsourcing 850 local corporate jobs as it fast-tracks investment in artificial intelligence. Under a multi-year agreement with consulting giant Accenture, most of the roles will move to India.

In an internal email to staff on Tuesday, Qantas chief executive Vanessa Hudson announced the decision. She said, "This is hard news for some and I'm sorry for the uncertainty it brings."

Hudson said the job cuts will begin in mid-2027. Finance, procurement, people and marketing roles will shift "mostly" to teams in India and "some in Australia" as the firm seeks to modernise its IT systems.

On the new deal with Accenture, Hudson said it was about "modernising" the airline's IT systems to become "more efficient". Qantas spends more than AU$1bn (US$691m) a year on technology, she said.

In her words, "Like every airline, we run on technology built up over decades for a different era, including more than 1,000 legacy applications that were never designed to work together."

Hudson said the deal with Accenture means "we will redesign and simplify parts of how our corporate functions work and reduce duplication", so staff can "spend more time on work that creates value for our customers and the business".

The company said that "in time", the work that Accenture takes over will be "transformed further with automation and AI". Hudson said the "scale and speed of change in technology and AI is something none of us has seen in our lifetime", calling the change "unprecedented".

Qantas said it would consult with affected staff and unions before final decisions were made, with the first changes expected to take effect by midway through next year. Hudson said, "We know this will be difficult news for some of our people and this decision is not a reflection of their contribution or commitment."

Qantas employs about 28,000 staff in Australia and another 4,000 globally. The company said thousands of its staff already use AI in their daily work. The BBC has contacted the Australian Services Union for comment.

The move comes days after the airline provided a market update, flagging fare increases and flight cuts amid higher fuel costs. The company said that while customer demand was proving resilient, it would continue to adjust fares and capacity in response to fuel costs.

It is the third major corporate layoff plan announced in Australia in three weeks, after restructuring moves flagged by the design company Canva and National Australia Bank. Across just three companies — NAB with 2,500 roles, Canva with 1,200, and now Qantas with 850 — about 4,550 corporate jobs have been targeted for cuts, relocations or restructuring in the past month.

The changes are expected to draw a strong response from unions that have previously battled Qantas over controversial outsourcing decisions. It is a difficult time for Australian workers, with living costs surging and the unemployment rate reaching its highest level in nearly five years.

A subdued economy, made worse by elevated oil prices stemming from the Iran conflict, is also prompting companies to cut costs. For Qantas, the higher fuel costs have been partially offset by ticket sales to new customers who switched to the airline after cancelling flights with Middle East stopovers.