Qantas Cuts 850 Corporate Jobs in Accenture Outsourcing Deal

Qantas will cut roughly 850 corporate roles over the coming years under a multi-year partnership with Accenture, with finance, procurement, people and marketing functions shifting to the consultancy's teams based mostly in India.

Chief executive Vanessa Hudson told staff in an email on Tuesday that the first phase of the partnership covers four corporate functions, with Accenture delivering services mostly from India and partly from Australia. The first changes are expected to be in place by mid-2027.

"I know this is hard news for some and I'm sorry for the uncertainty it brings," Hudson said.

What is driving the restructuring?

Hudson framed the move as a technology modernisation program rather than a pure cost exercise. Qantas runs on more than 1,000 legacy applications "never designed to work together", she told staff, arguing that transformation of that scale demanded an external partner.

"Reinvention was not possible to do on our own," Hudson said, describing Accenture as a long-term partner with tens of thousands of data and AI specialists and prior experience working with other airlines.

The claim positions the deal as an efficiency and systems-integration play, though Qantas disclosed no dollar value for the partnership and no projected savings figure. Individual outcomes for affected employees have not been determined, and the airline will consult staff and their union over the next few months.

Qantas said it would look to redeploy as many people as possible through retraining, reskilling and new roles in Australia.

How did unions and the market react?

Union reaction was immediate and hostile. Australian Services Union assistant secretary Scott Cowen said sending more jobs overseas was "not in the spirit of Australia" and that the union's priority was keeping as many roles as possible onshore. The ASU met members on-site on Tuesday.

Transport Workers Union national secretary Michael Kaine went further, saying Qantas continued to find "new ways to degrade the spirit of Australia beyond recognition", and referenced the airline's previous illegal outsourcing of thousands of workers.

Investors took the opposite view. Qantas shares rose 4 per cent in morning trade on the Australian Securities Exchange to $9.68, signalling market approval of the cost and efficiency rationale.

Is Qantas still hiring elsewhere?

Hudson countered the job-loss narrative by pointing to growth in operational parts of the group. More than 4,400 new operational roles have been created since 2023, she said, with thousands more expected as the fleet expands.

The corporate cuts therefore sit alongside continued frontline hiring, a distinction that matters for a carrier rebuilding workforce capacity after the pandemic and staffing disputes that damaged its brand and industrial relations record.

For travel sellers and corporate partners, the deal signals continued restructuring at Australia's flag carrier, with back-office consolidation and AI-driven systems overhauls likely to reshape how Qantas handles procurement, marketing operations and supplier relationships from 2027 onward.

The pace of redundancies, redeployment numbers and any disclosed savings will emerge only through the consultation process over the coming months.