{"id":611500,"date":"2026-04-16T21:05:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T21:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/611500\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T21:05:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T21:05:13","slug":"regional-airport-workers-facing-uncertain-future-as-qantas-cuts-and-suspends-routes-citing-fuel-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/611500\/","title":{"rendered":"Regional airport workers facing uncertain future as Qantas cuts and suspends routes, citing fuel costs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aviation staff working on routes suspended or cancelled by Qantas this week found out their jobs may be affected via the media, the Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) has said.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Qantas announced it was cutting all flights between Adelaide and Mount Gambier<\/a> in South Australia, as well as suspending four other routes<\/a> from May 18.<\/p>\n

Qantas will also cut flights on other domestic routes<\/a> to reduce overall capacity by 5 percentage points.<\/p>\n

The airline cited increasing fuel costs for the cuts, as well as falling demand, for its decision to axe the Mount Gambier to Adelaide route indefinitely.<\/p>\n

TWU national assistant secretary Emily McMillan said the union and its members working in aviation found out about the cuts at the same time as the public.<\/p>\n

“In the conversations we’ve had, we were thinking that there weren’t going to be any cancellations or closures like this,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Emily McMillan says workers are yet to find out how Qantas’s cuts will affect their jobs. (Supplied: TWU)<\/p>\n

“So it’s concerning that we’re seeing the same old pattern from Qantas, where we’ve seen ongoing regional base closures and job losses taken at inopportune moments like this.”<\/p>\n

In response to questions about the effect on jobs, Qantas confirmed there was no impact on Qantas jobs as a part of its decision to reduce flights.<\/p>\n

But Ms McMillan said airport-based staff, often employed as contractors, had been left with uncertain futures.<\/p>\n

She added that airlines should be better regulated to ensure services to regional areas.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Qantas has said its fuel bill could increase by $800 million due to increased costs. (AAP: Paul Miller)<\/p>\n

“When airlines are able to dictate policy, they’re going to choose profit over services, and that means regional communities miss out,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We’re saying there will continue to be pressure points, whether it is COVID, whether it is fuel, whether it is international events, ash clouds.<\/p>\n

“These events keep happening in aviation.”<\/p>\n

Flight times hamper ‘connectivity’<\/p>\n

Qantas said some flights between Adelaide and Mount Gambier were operating at less than 20 per cent capacity.<\/p>\n

It currently operates four days a week between the two cities, with one flight in and out of Mount Gambier on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday.<\/p>\n

Weekday flights out of Adelaide leave about 10:30am, before the return leg leaves Mount Gambier just after midday.<\/p>\n

Flights on Sunday leave Adelaide about 3pm, with the return flight leaving Mount Gambier at 4:20pm.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Mount Gambier Regional Airport services SA’s second-largest city and the wider Limestone Coast region. (ABC South East SA)<\/p>\n

The mayor of the District Council of Grant, Kylie Boston, said the flight times were problematic and failed to work with business needs.<\/p>\n

“For us to make those flights work, we really need something that we can fly to either Adelaide or Melbourne first thing in the morning, and be able to come back that night,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Kylie Boston says Qantas’s offerings in Mount Gambier make flying difficult for locals. (ABC South East SA: Grace Whiteside)<\/p>\n

“To have that connectivity, to do that, is probably what’s important.<\/p>\n

“The flight times weren’t necessarily suiting what our market is here.”<\/p>\n

Qantas said it had tried to boost demand by adjusting schedules, including changing its flight times on Sundays, and offering sales.<\/p>\n

The airline said it had discussed the route with state and federal politicians in the month leading up to Tuesday’s announcement.<\/p>\n

More news from regional SA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aviation staff working on routes suspended or cancelled by Qantas this week found out their jobs may be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611501,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3859,64,63,99,35431,32647,294575,3861,297059,79561,48154,297060],"class_list":{"0":"post-611500","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-air-travel","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-business","12":"tag-fuel","13":"tag-fuel-costs","14":"tag-mount-gambier-flights","15":"tag-qantas","16":"tag-qantas-cuts-routes","17":"tag-regional-airports","18":"tag-unions","19":"tag-what-routes-has-qantas-cut"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}