Qantas Careers & Layoffs: Airlines to Remove 5,000 Jobs

Qantas announced Wednesday that the company will be cutting 5,000 positions, or 15% of its workforce, in the next three years, CNN reported.

"The Australian domestic market has been distorted by current Australian aviation policy," the airline's chief executive Alan Joyce said in a statement relayed the BBC. "Qantas has been undertaking its biggest ever transformation over the past four years, cutting comparable unit costs by 19 percent, but this is not enough for the circumstances we face now."

Back in December last year, Qantas has already warned that its losses may reach A$270 due to record fuel costs, tough competition, and a strong Australian currency, the BBC said. Soon after this forecast was announced, Standard and Poor's, as well as Moody's, downgraded Qantas' credit rating "to below investment grade."

"With structural economic changes being exacerbated by the uneven playing field in domestic aviation, we must now take actions that are unprecedented in scope and depth. We will accelerate our Qantas transformation program to achieve $2 billion in cost reductions by FY17. Hard decisions will be necessary to overcome the challenges we face and build a stronger business," the company continued in its statement.

Right now, the Flying Kangaroo is "asking the government for a debt guarantee, which would give it access to cheaper capital," Reuters noted.

"The problem is that Australians love to have an icon, but only 16 percent of people leaving Australia fly Qantas," Neil Hansford, Chairman of consultants Strategic Aviation Solutions, told The Wall Street Journal.

Qantas' operating losses ballooned to A$262 million in the first half of the fiscal year. Part of this is due to tighter competition from rival carriers such as Virgin Australia, Singapore Airlines, and Air New Zealand.

"Some analysts say Qantas needs to be willing to cede some market share and have questioned whether the problem might be Mr. Joyce and the rest of Qantas's executives," the Wall Street Journal prodded. To that, Joyce responded that he's still "absolutely committed to Qantas."