A Melbourne move and downsize in office space could be the next step for the Qantas Group on its ‘reset’ and recovery plan in response to the COVID crisis.
The Qantas Group is reviewing the location of its key facilities as part of its recovery plan and efforts to cut overheads – which may result in bringing together several facilities, currently spread across Australia, in one state.
The review will focus chiefly on non-aviation facilities – including the national carrier’s leased 49,000 square metre head office in Mascot (Sydney) and Jetstar’s leased head office in Collingwood (Melbourne).
Some aviation facilities will be considered for possible relocation, such as flight simulator centres currently in Sydney and Melbourne as well as Qantas’ heavy maintenance facilities in Brisbane – particularly if there was an opportunity to bring some or all of these facilities together elsewhere within Australia.
There are no intentions to offshore facilities as a result of this review and it is not expected to have any impact on customers. Rather, the review flows from job losses already announced, (about 25 per cent of which were corporate and head office employees) the need for more efficiencies and setting the Group up for the future.
“Like most airlines, the ongoing impact of COVID means we’ll be a much smaller company for a while. We’re looking right across the organisation for efficiencies, including our $40 million annual spend on leased office space.
Vanessa Hudson, Chief Financial Officer for the Qantas Group
“As well as simply rightsizing the amount of space we have, there are opportunities to consolidate some facilities and unlock economies of scale. For instance, we could co-locate the Qantas and Jetstar head offices in a single place rather than splitting them across Sydney and Melbourne.”
“This is about setting the Qantas Group up for the long term as well as recovering from the COVID crisis. And we’re open minded about the outcome.”
Vanessa Hudson, Chief Financial Officer for the Qantas Group
Hudson also said that it’s possible that the Qantas Group HQ stays where it is but becomes a lot smaller, and other facilities consolidate elsewhere.
There are many options that the airline needs to consider as it looks to the future.
The HQ review is expected to take three months to determine preferred options. Any relocations are likely to be staggered over time (potentially years) dependent on what options are taken up.
Watch this space for more information.
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