The Qantas Engineers Alliance has responded to the airline’s ongoing maintenance review with the release of a strategic plan designed to prevent Australian job losses.
The industry plan, entitled Our Future at Qantas, aims to see Qantas work with the unions and the government to establish Australia as a maintenance hub through infrastructure investment and “genuine” engagement on fleet and maintenance planning.
Australian Workers Union (AWU) national secretary Paul Howes admitted that Qantas faced “challenging times” with increased competition for Asia, retirement of aircraft and new technology.
But he insisted that the carrier had built its reputation as an aviation industry leader on the back of its world class engineers.
“That’s why we’re putting forward an industry plan to establish Australia as a maintenance hub and secure future opportunities for our next generation of aircraft engineers,” he said.
Qantas announced last month that it would axe around 500 jobs in an immediate overhaul of ground operations, with more roles likely to go following a two-month “consultative review” of heavy maintenance (Travel Today, February 16).
