Qantas has announced further capacity and network reductions in reaction to the fuel crisis, this time focusing on its regional operations in New South Wales and Victoria.The Chief Executive Officer of Qantas, Mr Geoff Dixon, said the changes
followed similar measures already announced for Qantas and Jetstar’s
domestic and international operations over the past fortnight due to
unprecedented increases in oil prices.

The changes include the accelerated retirement of QantasLink’s six remaining Dash 8 100 36-seat aircraft by August 2008; the closure of QantasLink’s Mildura maintenance base on 15 August 2008; exiting the loss-making Melbourne-Wollongong route from 18 July 2008; and the permanent withdrawal from previously suspended QantasLink services between Newcastle and both Melbourne and Sydney.

The Chief Executive Officer of Qantas, Mr Geoff Dixon, said the retirement of the older Dash 8 100 series aircraft would result in the closure of the maintenance base in Mildura.

“We will work closely with the affected staff in Mildura to minimise
redundancies by offering alternative job opportunities at other QantasLink
locations,” he said.

Mr Dixon said the Melbourne-Wollongong services had been underperforming
for some time, and record fuel prices now made it difficult for QantasLink
to continue to operate the older Dash 8 aircraft on the route.
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