QF responds to coronavirus by cutting international capacity by 23%.
Qantas has just confirmed it will ground eight of its Airbus A380 superjumbos until mid-September, due to a “sudden and significant drop in forward travel demand”.
Two other A380s are currently undergoing heavy maintenance, meaning just two Qantas superjumbos will remain flying.
Qantas is delaying the start of its new Brisbane-Chicago route from 15 April 2020 until mid-September, while the carrier is also suspending flights to Bangkok and reducing flights from Australia to Vietnam and Japan by almost half.
Domestic reductions will see QF and JQ capacity cut by 5% through until mid-September, in line with broader economic conditions. The overall cuts are the equivalent of grounding 38 Qantas and Jetstar aircraft across the group’s international and domestic network.
Major cost-cutting initiatives will see Qantas CEO Alan Joyce take no salary for the remainder of the 2020 financial year, while QF Group Executive Management will take a 30% pay cut.
“In the past fortnight we’ve seen a sharp drop in bookings in our international network as the global coronavirus spread continues,” Joyce said.
“We expect lower demand to continue for the next several months, so rather than taking a piecemeal approach we’re cutting capacity out to mid-September…this improves our ability to reduce costs as well as giving more certainty to the market, customers and our people.”
More details in today’s issue of Travel Daily.