The Australian flag carrier Qantas has been slammed by its main flight attendant union after it revealed plans to open its first-ever crew base in Singapore, with the airline accused of offshoring jobs at the expense of Australian workers.
Set to open as soon as September 2026, Qantas initially plans to hire 120 flight attendants for its Singapore crew base within the first year, but there are plans to grow the base to as many as 650 flight attendants in as little as five years.
The new Singapore crew base, announced alongside the airline’s annual financial results on Thursday morning, is designed to support Qantas’ “growing international network,” the airline explained.
Qantas currently flies to Singapore up to 10 times per day from Brisbane, Darwin, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. The airline also operates a daily ultra-long-haul service from Singapore to London Heathrow.
But while flights between Singapore and London are crewed with a mix of Australian and British-based crew, the crew employed at its Singapore base will be used exclusively for flights to Singapore.
That decision has drawn a strong response from the Flight Attendants’ Association of Australia, which represents Qantas crew members employed in Australia.
“Cabin crew positions in Australia remain highly sought after,” explained Teri O’Toole, the federal secretary of the FAAA.
“There is no shortage of qualified, experienced aviation professionals seeking employment, and offshoring these roles cannot credibly be framed as a labour shortage response,” O’Toole slammed.
Qantas has defended its decision, saying the Singapore crew base will not only help the airline to grow its international route network but also allow it to respond faster to flight disruption or crew availability issues.
The FAAA, however, sees the motive behind opening a crew base in Singapore as one of saving money by undercutting Australian salaries and working conditions.
While Qantas says that its Singapore-based crew will be paid a competitive salary, they are likely to be employed under vastly different terms and conditions than their Australian colleagues.
In the past, Qantas offered incredibly generous terms and conditions for its flight attendants, but, over the years, the airline has attempted to reduce costs associated with these gold-plated Enterprise Agreements.
One controversial method used by Qantas to hire flight attendants on lower pay was to employ them through third-party companies, which circumvented the Enterprise Agreement applying to these crew members.
In late 2023, however, the Australian government introduced its so-called ‘Same Job, Same Pay’ law, which requires employers to pay new hire workers the same wages as veteran staffers.
Qantas was forced into talks to improve employment conditions for newer flight attendants, with some crew members seeing their wages shoot up by around 30% after the airline reached a deal with Australia’s Fair Work Commission.
In reaching an agreement on wage increases for Qantas’ international flight attendants, the airline was able to insert an amendment into its Enterprise Agreement, which paves the way for crew members to work ultra-long-haul ‘Project Sunrise’ flights, which will connect Sydney with non-stop flights to London and New York.
While Qantas is opening a Singapore crew base for its mainline operations, also on Thursday, the airline announced that it was shuttering a Singapore crew base for its low-cost subsidiary Jetstar.
Some of these crew will be allowed to apply for transfers to Qantas mainline positions in Singapore.
Several other airlines already have crew bases in Singapore, including Cathay Pacific and Finnair. Until now, Qantas has only maintained its own international crew base in London, where crew operate flights to Singapore and Perth.
Qantas did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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