QANTAS is set to close down its Melbourne and Brisbane Telephone Sales/Reservations departments. The only remaining Australian based called centre to remain for the carrier will be Hobart. The closure for Melbourne and Brisbane is expected to take place sometime in 2015 and 2016 respectively.

QANTAS already has an established off-shore call centre based in Auckland, which presently handles calls outside the normal operating hours of the Australian based call centres to offer a 24 hour service. Suspicions were aroused that the Australian call centres would be significantly scaled back when advertisements appeared actively recruiting staff for call centre positions based in Auckland.

Up to 500 staff, which were informed of this decision this morning, are set to lose their jobs. Some of the options given to affected staff will be the opportunity to apply for a transfer to Hobart. Alternatively they can resign and apply for a position at the Auckland based operation. Staff that opt to leave the company early may not be eligible nor qualify for redundancy packages.