Qantas plans to transfer around 850 head-office jobs to Accenture under a multi-year outsourcing agreement, with most of the work expected to be delivered by Accenture teams in India as the Australian airline overhauls its technology systems.
The transition will cover finance, procurement, human resources and marketing functions. Qantas said the first phase is expected to be implemented by mid-2027, while some services will continue to be handled in Australia.
The announcement places India at the centre of a major restructuring of Qantas’ corporate operations. The airline is seeking to modernise its technology infrastructure and simplify systems that have become difficult to integrate and manage. Qantas chief executive Vanessa Hudson told employees that the company operates more than 1,000 legacy applications that were not designed to work together.
“Modernising these systems and connecting the data across them is the critical next step,” Hudson said, adding that the changes would help accelerate innovation and the airline’s use of artificial intelligence. She also said the restructuring was intended to make the company more efficient and support continued investment in customers, employees and future operations.
Hudson acknowledged the uncertainty facing employees affected by the decision. “I know this is hard news for some, and I’m sorry for the uncertainty it brings,” she said. Qantas has not yet determined the individual outcomes for all affected workers and plans to consult employees and their union over the coming months.
The Australian Services Union has criticised the decision and questioned the implications of moving work from Qantas’ Australian headquarters to overseas teams. ASU NSW secretary Angus McFarland said the union believed most of the affected positions were based at the airline’s headquarters in Mascot, Sydney.
“This should be chilling to not only those workers, but all Australians, because no Australian benefits from this. This is jobs offshore, and this is skills offshore at our national airline,” McFarland said, as quoted by ANI.
The union also said the announcement conflicted with assurances given to employees earlier this year. ASU assistant national secretary Scott Cowen said workers had previously been told that Qantas had no plans to offshore Australian jobs.
The union is seeking details on the number of positions that will be affected, the roles that will remain in Australia and the retraining assistance available to employees. It has also called for redundancy packages that account for workers’ years of service.
Qantas said it intends to retain as many employees as possible within the group by offering opportunities for redeployment, retraining and reskilling. The airline and the union are expected to work through those arrangements as the outsourcing transition progresses, with the first phase scheduled for implementation by mid-2027.
