Qantas confirmed on 3 December that it will merge several senior portfolios and cut an unspecified number of head-office roles—potentially up to 400—only weeks before the peak holiday season. Internal memos detail expanded remits for customer strategy chief Andrew Glance, inflight boss Cam Wallace and chief commercial officer Markus Svensson, while Rachel Yangoyan becomes chief of technology, AI and transformation. Jetstar CEO Stephanie Tully retains her role.
The airline stressed that front-line operational staff will be “largely unaffected,” but the Australian Services Union warned that slimming corporate ranks so close to Christmas would batter morale and risk service disruptions as new systems bed in. Analysts say CEO Vanessa Hudson is under pressure to improve on-time performance—sitting at 75 % in October—and rebuild brand trust after 2023’s slot-hoarding and refund scandals.
![Qantas Executive Shake-up Puts 400 White-Collar Jobs at Risk]()
For corporate travel managers, the bigger question is whether the re-organisation accelerates or delays Qantas’s digital-first customer-care rollout, including promised self-service disruption tools. Smaller travel budgets, already squeezed by higher airfares, will watch for any capacity reductions if cost-cutting spreads to network planning.
Competitors Virgin Australia and Rex seized on the news to promote their own reliability metrics, hinting at fare sales on business-heavy east-coast routes. Expect intensifying competition for premium flyers in early 2026.
The airline stressed that front-line operational staff will be “largely unaffected,” but the Australian Services Union warned that slimming corporate ranks so close to Christmas would batter morale and risk service disruptions as new systems bed in. Analysts say CEO Vanessa Hudson is under pressure to improve on-time performance—sitting at 75 % in October—and rebuild brand trust after 2023’s slot-hoarding and refund scandals.
For corporate travel managers, the bigger question is whether the re-organisation accelerates or delays Qantas’s digital-first customer-care rollout, including promised self-service disruption tools. Smaller travel budgets, already squeezed by higher airfares, will watch for any capacity reductions if cost-cutting spreads to network planning.
Competitors Virgin Australia and Rex seized on the news to promote their own reliability metrics, hinting at fare sales on business-heavy east-coast routes. Expect intensifying competition for premium flyers in early 2026.
