Qantas cuts 850 Australian jobs in AI overhaul with Accenture

Qantas will cut 850 Australian jobs and transfer some services to Accenture's India-based team under an artificial intelligence driven overhaul, with an initial 500 staff to be offered roles with Accenture.

Why it matters: The cuts are one of the largest Australian corporate moves yet to replace back office work with AI and offshore labour, and they land a day before the airline's annual meeting, with unions pressing the government to close the labour hire loophole the plan relies on.

Data as of The Guardian's report of November 10, 2026 (Australia), read in full via the estate browser route; single source, and Qantas has published no cost or savings figure in the reporting read. Developing item.

Qantas will cut 850 local jobs, most of them in back-end systems, processes and data, and transfer some services to Accenture’s large India-based team under an AI-driven overhaul the airline says will make it more productive and modern. An initial group of 500 Qantas staff will be offered roles with Accenture, though the airline declined to say how many would need to move to India, and consultation with staff and unions has begun ahead of final decisions, with the first changes taking effect by the middle of next year.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions called the plan a bitter blow and said the workers losing their jobs would be expected to train their replacements, urging the government to tighten labour hire rules. The overhaul sits alongside a separate engineering restructuring announced last week that would move up to 700 workers into a new joint venture or new roles.

Qantas cuts 850 Australian jobs in AI overhaul with Accenture

Sources