Qantas ties 850 corporate job cuts to Accenture deal and AI plans

Qantas announced it would cut 850 positions as part of an outsourcing deal with Accenture.[1] The redundancies will affect corporate roles, with changes unfolding over coming years and the first changes expected by mid-2027.[1] The work will begin in finance, procurement and marketing.[1] Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson told staff about the changes in an internal email on Tuesday and described the news as difficult for some staff.[2][1] Qantas says it will redeploy affected employees where possible, including into new roles in Australia.[2]

Qantas said the affected services would be delivered mostly by Accenture teams in India and partly in Australia.[1] The company said work transferred to Accenture would eventually be further transformed by automation and AI.[2] Hudson said the changes would help Qantas accelerate its use of AI.[1] She also said the airline runs more than 1,000 legacy applications that were not designed to work together and spends more than AU$1 billion a year on technology.[1][2] Qantas said thousands of its staff already use AI in their daily work.[2]

Hudson said the deal would redesign and simplify parts of Qantas's corporate functions and reduce duplication.[2] That rationale sits alongside the company’s plan to move services to Accenture and later use automation and AI to transform the transferred work.[1][2] The figures describe the company's stated technology challenge and financial result, but the evidence does not quantify how much of the planned job reduction is attributable to AI rather than outsourcing or organisational changes.[1][2]

The Australian Services Union said it had been told there was no plan to offshore 1,000 jobs, but staff were subsequently told up to 850 could be sent offshore.[1] The union said most cuts would affect Sydney-based jobs and that it would work with members to fight for every job.[1] Qantas shares rose more than 6 per cent after the news.[1] The AFR's Chanticleer column argued that offshoring jobs first and automating work with AI later is becoming common in corporate Australia.[3]