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A Qantas plane - Source: ONE News -
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Qantas Airways could be preparing for further job cuts after announcing last year it would slash 1,500 jobs.
Qantas refused to comment on Monday whether it was planning to cut 100 senior executive positions.
A report in The Australian Financial Review says the airline was likely to cut 100 senior executive positions after an examination of the business under new chief executive Alan Joyce.
The newspaper cited unnamed senior sources within Qantas.
The 100 job cuts would be in addition to the 1,500 job cuts that Qantas announced in July last year.
An aviation analyst, who wished to remain anonymous, says they would not be surprised if Qantas cut back on the number of senior executives.
"It wouldn't be surprising," the analyst says.
Airlines across the globe are struggling with the slump in air travel demand as a result of the global economic slowdown.
The analyst says Qantas was overstaffed in its senior executive ranks.
"Take Virgin Blue, for example, they have a chief executive and a chief financial officer, et cetera," the analysts says.
"What has Qantas got? They've got a chief executive, chief financial officer, a treasurer, they've got a couple of people in investor relations, a few in media relations, then there is government relations.... Obviously, they need to manage their government relationships
and they are an international airline, et cetera, but they've probably got a luxury there compared to other airlines."
Hit by higher fuel and labour costs and a drop in premium and international travel due to the global economic downturn Qantas reported a 66% drop in first half profit.
The carrier reported a net profit for the six months to December 31, 2008, of $210 million, down from the $618 million result in the prior corresponding period.
Its pre-tax profit fell 68.2% to $288 million, from $905 million.
Qantas has forecast a full year pre-tax profit of about $500 million, which would be down about 64% from the $1.4 billion it reported in the previous financial year.
Qantas shares closed up 2.5 cents, or 1.47%, at $1.72 on Monday.
