By XAVIER SMERDON and NATALIE GALLENTI
MORE than 400 workers will lose their jobs after Qantas announced last week that they would close their heavy maintenance base in Tullamarine and move it to Brisbane.
A statement from Qantas said that as a result of a restructure heavy maintenance work on Boeing 737 aircraft would cease at Tullamarine by August, leaving 422 workers unemployed.
The major airline company also revealed it would slash 113 jobs from their heavy maintenance base in Avalon, after Star revealed in February that the company was reviewing the operations of the bases.
The base at Avalon will continue to maintain Boeing 747s. It will also conduct some work on B737s and B767s, some aircraft reconfiguration work and remain available for one-off maintenance tasks.
Avalon Airport CEO Justin Giddings said while it was not yet known which workers would be made redundant at his base, around 20 per cent of the staff were from Wyndham.
“We are disappointed that we didn’t pick up the 747 work from Tullamarine. We just think that was silly,” Mr Giddings told Star.
“We can do all the work that Tullamarine could do, yet they are sending it to Brisbane.”
Mr Giddings said while the Avalon base had been kept alive for now, he expected it to only last another five to eight years.
“From a business perspective it doesn’t really affect Avalon Airport, but it affects the human aspect,” he said.
“If they (Qantas) say they care about their employees then they are not really showing it.”
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said the company would continue to be the only major airline in the world to do heavy maintenance at its own facilities in Australia.
“Qantas has an outstanding track record in aircraft maintenance, and our commitment to setting a global standard for safety and quality in airline maintenance will never change,” Mr Joyce said.
Mr Joyce said Qantas was working with the Government to help affected employees with future employment opportunities.
