Australia’s Qantas to shut down Avalon maintenance facility

Sydney – Australia’s largest airline Qantas Friday announced that it would close its Avalon heavy maintenance facility at the end of March 2014 due to the retirement of its Boeing 747 fleet.

Qantas Domestic Chief Executive Officer Lyell Strambi said the decision came after a comprehensive review into the Avalon operations, reported Xinhua.

“Qantas is gradually retiring our fleet of Boeing 747 aircraft, which means there is not enough work to keep our Avalon base viable and productive,” Strambi said in a statement.

“After reviewing all of the options, the only realistic answer is to close Avalon and have the maintenance performed on our 747s at another facility.”

The closure of Avalon maintenance base will result in the loss of 300 jobs, the airline confirmed.

Strambi said Qantas will explore redeployment opportunities for the 53 impacted Qantas employees and provide generous redundancy packages.

Qantas will also work closely with Forstaff, which employs 246 contractors at Avalon, he added.

The airline has confirmed that it would continue to maintain aircraft at its major heavy maintenance facility in Brisbane and conduct line maintenance at 19 ports around Australia including Melbourne.