Qantas to outsource 850 local corporate roles as part of IT revamp

Australian airline Qantas has announced a major restructuring plan that will see 850 local corporate jobs outsourced to consulting firm Accenture. The company confirmed that most of these affected roles will move to teams based in India as part of a broader strategy to modernise its information technology systems and accelerate artificial intelligence investments.

In an internal communication sent to employees on Tuesday, Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson addressed the workforce regarding the difficult transition. She acknowledged that the announcement brings significant uncertainty and stated that the company is currently engaged in discussions with staff and relevant unions about the upcoming operational changes.

The outsourcing initiative is scheduled to commence by the middle of 2027. The initial phase will target departments including finance, procurement, human resources, and marketing. While the majority of these transition functions will relocate to India, a small portion of the transitioned work will remain situated within Australia.

Qantas is outsourcing 850 corporate jobs to Accenture, with most moving to India to modernise IT.

Explaining the rationale behind the decision, Hudson pointed to the rapid evolution of technology across the global aviation sector. She noted that the current scale and speed of advancements in artificial intelligence are unprecedented. The airline currently dedicates more than one billion Australian dollars annually to technology expenses, maintaining over a thousand legacy software applications originally built for past decades that lack integration capabilities.

Modernising operations through Qantas India partnerships

The multi-year partnership with Accenture aims to redesign and simplify corporate workflows while eliminating operational duplication. According to the company, this structural shift will allow remaining employees to focus on value-generating tasks for customers and the business. Management anticipates that the operations managed by Accenture will eventually incorporate deeper automation and artificial intelligence capabilities over time.

The announcement arrives shortly after Qantas published a recent market update indicating higher fuel expenditures, subsequent flight schedule reductions, and anticipated fare increases. The carrier currently employs roughly 28,000 personnel domestically and another 4,000 across international locations, with thousands already utilising artificial intelligence in daily tasks.

Why it matters

This restructuring affects hundreds of corporate employees in Australia and highlights the accelerating global trend of legacy companies relying on external consulting partnerships in nations like India to handle back-end technological modernization. For professionals in India and South Asia, the agreement underscores the growing regional role in managing complex corporate IT transformations and software automation for international aviation giants.