Qantas, Australia's biggest airline, announced yesterday it will cut between 1,500 and 2,000 jobs -- about 6 percent of its staff -- blaming the impact of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks for the decision.
Chief Executive Geoff Dixon said the airline also would pare back its international flight schedule -- including ending all flights to New York -- because of sliding demand since the attacks on New York and Washington.
The airline has cut its international flights by about 11 percent since Sept. 11. The Sydney-based carrier also said it will retire its fleet of five Boeing 747-200 aircraft beginning in April. The aircraft had been scheduled to be phased out from late 2003.
Qantas said it will also make "extensive internal changes" by moving a largenumber of staff from its international operation to its domestic operations.
In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange, Qantas said all flights to New York will be cut from Nov. 25, and flights would be reduced to Rome, Johannesburg, Bangkok, Manila and Buenos Aires.
Dixon said the moves were designed to "bolster decisions made last month to respond to the international aviation downturn resulting from the terrorist attack, to lower its cost base and to put it in a strong position to take advantage of the inevitable recovery of the international aviation market."
Qantas already is seeking a staff wage freeze for 12 to 18 months and substantial changes to domestic operations. Unions have threatened strike action over the proposed wage freeze.
Dixon said bookings from Japan are down 25 percent, while bookings from the UK have slumped 23 percent.
Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao (李佳豪) on Sunday won a silver medal at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, a career best. Lee, 25, took silver in the final of the men’s singles against world No. 1 Shi Yuqi (石宇奇) of China, who won 21-17, 21-19 in a tough match that lasted 51 minutes. After the match, the Taiwanese player, who ranks No. 22 in the world, said it felt unreal to be challenging an opponent of Shi’s caliber. “I had to be in peak form, and constantly switch my rhythm and tactics in order to score points effectively,” he said. Lee got
‘CROWN JEWEL’: Washington ‘can delay and deter’ Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans for Taiwan, but it is ‘a very delicate situation there,’ the secretary of state said US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change to Taiwan’s “status quo” by force or extortion and would maintain that policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Hugh Hewitt Show host on Wednesday. The US’ policy is to maintain Taiwan’s “status quo” and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion, Rubio said. Hewitt asked Rubio about the significance of Trump earlier this month speaking with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) at the White House, a meeting that Hewitt described as a “big deal.” Asked whether the meeting was an indication of the
‘RELATIVELY STRONG LANGUAGE’: An expert said the state department has not softened its language on China and was ‘probably a little more Taiwan supportive’ China’s latest drills near Taiwan on Monday were “brazen and irresponsible threats,” a US Department of State spokesperson said on Tuesday, while reiterating Washington’s decades-long support of Taipei. “China cannot credibly claim to be a ‘force for stability in a turbulent world’ while issuing brazen and irresponsible threats toward Taiwan,” the unnamed spokesperson said in an e-mailed response to media queries. Washington’s enduring commitment to Taiwan will continue as it has for 45 years and the US “will continue to support Taiwan in the face of China’s military, economic, informational and diplomatic pressure campaign,” the e-mail said. “Alongside our international partners, we firmly
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it has lodged a protest with Pretoria after the name of the Taipei Liaison Office in South Africa was changed to the “Taipei Commercial Office” on the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation’s (DIRCO) Web site. In October last year, the South African government asked Taiwan to relocate the Taipei Liaison Office, the nation’s de facto embassy, out of Pretoria. It later agreed to continue negotiating through official channels, but in January asked that the office be relocated by the end of this month. As of the middle of last month, DIRCO’s Web
RSS