Qantas said on Tuesday it would cut 850 corporate jobs in Australia and outsource some corporate functions to Accenture under a new multi-year partnership, Reuters reported. In an email to staff, Chief Executive Vanessa Hudson said the jobs would be cut “over the coming years,” with the first round to happen by mid-2027, Reuters reported. The BBC, The Guardian, ABC News, and iTnews also reported the plan.
The first phase would affect finance, procurement, people, and marketing staff, according to the email as reported by the BBC and Reuters, which described the people function as human resources. Some of the work would move to Accenture and be “delivered mostly by its teams in India and some in Australia,” the airline said, as quoted by ABC News and iTnews. iTnews, citing a Qantas statement, said about 850 roles would be affected over the coming years and that “the first wave of changes are expected to be in place by mid-2027.”
Hudson cited the “scale and speed of change in technology and AI” as “something none of us has seen in our lifetime,” Reuters and the BBC reported, and pointed to “more than 1,000 legacy applications that were never designed to work together,” ABC News and iTnews reported. Qantas said the work Accenture takes over will “in time be transformed further with automation and AI,” according to iTnews and the BBC. The company said it would consult with affected employees and unions before individual outcomes are determined, and would look to redeploy as many people as possible, including through new roles in Australia.
The Australian Services Union objected. “Earlier this year, Qantas told us directly there was no plan to offshore any jobs. Today, they’ve come out and told hundreds of staff members that their work will now be delivered mostly from people overseas,” ASU Assistant National Secretary Scott Cowen said, according to Reuters. “AI is having a huge impact on workers across the country, but the cost of technology change should not be borne by the workers who have kept the airline running for years,” he said, as also quoted by The Guardian. A Qantas spokesperson said the airline had “never given assurances to the union that some jobs wouldn’t move offshore,” and that it had met the union in recent months to discuss the potential for some roles to move to Accenture, Reuters reported.
The announcement follows other Australian workforce changes this month. AI Tech Daily reported last week that Canva said a reorganization would affect 1,271 staff through role changes, relocations, and job cuts.
Sources
- Investing.com carry of Reuters: Australia’s Qantas to axe 850 jobs in offshoring deal with Accenture (November 10, 2026)
- Times Live carry of Reuters: Australia’s Qantas to cut 850 jobs in Accenture offshoring move (November 10, 2026)
- BBC: Qantas to outsource 850 local jobs with most roles moving to India, by Lana Lam (November 10, 2026)
- The Guardian: Qantas to cut 850 Australian jobs and outsource work to India under AI-driven overhaul, by Jonathan Barrett (November 10, 2026)
- ABC News: Qantas to cut 850 corporate jobs as it moves roles overseas in Accenture deal, by Stephanie Chalmers and Liana Walker (November 10, 2026)
- iTnews: Qantas taps Accenture for major IT and data modernisation, by Ry Crozier (November 10, 2026)
- AI Tech Daily: Canva says its reorganization will affect 1,271 staff via role changes, relocations and job cuts (November 4, 2026)
- AI Tech Daily: Dutch cabinet aims to cut about 25,000 central-government jobs by 2035, with AI plans due in early 2027 (October 28, 2026)