Qantas is expected to cut 100 executive positions when it announces the results of a restructuring plan as it grapples with flagging demand due to the global downturn.
The move is expected to stamp the new chief executive’s authority on the Australian flag carrier and comes on top of 1,500 job cuts announced last July.
The number is thought to match the recent wave of capacity cuts as the airline reacts to a deteriorating market with sweeping capacity reductions.
This week’s cuts are likely to be made in senior and middle management, and continue the airline’s strategy of reducing its workforce.
Qantas has introduced an “accelerated leave” programme to cut staff numbers.
Last month Qantas reported a 68 per cent drop in first-half profits and said that full-year profits to June 30 would fall to A$500m, down from A$1.4bn for the previous year. In February, Qantas said its A$500m full-year profit guidance was “subject to no further significant change in market conditions and fuel prices”.
Mr Joyce, the former head of Qantas’s budget carrier Jetstar, has stressed that the group must avoid a loss during his first year.
However, he has also hinted that he wants to take a more conciliatory approach to negotiations with Qantas’s unions than his predecessor Geoff Dixon.
A bitter dispute with the Australian Licensed Engineers Association last year cost Qantas A$150m.
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