Qantas Turns to Accenture for an AI Overhaul. 850 Australian Jobs Will Be Affected
Qantas has signed a multi-year technology and AI partnership with Accenture that will affect around 850 Australian roles. Here is what the deal means for the airline, its employees and India’s technology services industry.
Qantas Is Changing How Its Airline Works Behind the Scenes
Australia's flag carrier, Qantas, is bringing in Accenture to modernise the technology and processes that support its business. But the multi-year partnership comes with a significant workforce impact: around 850 Australian roles are expected to be affected over the coming years.
The changes will initially involve finance, procurement, human resources and marketing. Some services currently handled by Qantas employees will move to Accenture, with most of the work expected to be delivered by teams in India and some in Australia.
The first wave of changes is expected by mid-2027. The affected roles account for roughly 3% of Qantas' Australian workforce of around 28,000 people.
The announcement is part of a wider effort to update the airline's technology infrastructure and prepare its operations for greater use of artificial intelligence. It also raises a difficult question for the industry: as companies bring in AI and external technology partners, what happens to the people currently doing that work?
More Than 1,000 Legacy Applications Are Behind the Move
Qantas says its technology systems have been built up over decades, leaving it with more than 1,000 legacy applications that were never designed to work together.
Modernising these systems and connecting the underlying data is central to the partnership. The airline wants to reduce complexity, simplify internal processes and make it easier to introduce new technology across the business.
Qantas already invests more than $1 billion annually in technology. It is also expanding its Product Innovation Centre in Adelaide, which is expected to grow to more than 400 roles. The company says thousands of its employees are already using AI tools in their daily work.
Accenture will bring data and AI specialists, technology transformation experience and delivery capacity to the programme. Qantas says the partnership will help it move faster and at a greater scale than it could achieve independently. Accenture will also invest upfront to accelerate the modernisation of Qantas' data platforms, although the financial value of the partnership has not been disclosed.
The intended benefits extend beyond internal efficiency. Qantas says the modernised systems and connected data should also support improvements in customer experience and airline operations.
Why India Is Part of the Strategy
A significant part of the announcement is where the transferred work will be delivered.
Accenture's teams in India are expected to handle most of the services moving away from Qantas, with some work remaining in Australia. This puts the partnership in the broader context of global companies using technology and consulting firms to manage business operations across locations.
For India's IT and consulting sector, the arrangement highlights the continuing demand for enterprise technology modernisation, data management and AI-related services. Indian delivery teams are not just providing traditional outsourced support; they are increasingly involved in complex technology and business transformation programmes.
However, the Qantas announcement does not establish how much work or how many roles will be based in India. It also does not mean all 850 affected Australian roles will simply be transferred overseas. The work will be redesigned, with automation and AI expected to change some processes further over time.
That distinction matters. The partnership involves both outsourcing and a broader transformation of how selected corporate functions operate.
The Workforce Impact Remains Unsettled
For employees, the announcement brings uncertainty. Qantas says it will consult affected workers and their unions before individual outcomes are determined. It has also said it will look for opportunities to redeploy employees into other positions, including new roles in Australia, alongside reskilling, retraining and other support.
The Australian Services Union has challenged the move. It says Qantas had previously indicated that the Accenture partnership would not involve offshoring Australian jobs. Qantas has denied giving the union such assurances and says it had discussed the possibility of work moving to Accenture teams in India and Australia.
The disagreement adds another layer to the announcement: how companies communicate workforce changes when technology transformation and outsourcing happen together.
The Bigger Shift: AI Is Reshaping Business Functions, Not Just Products
The Qantas deal is a reminder that AI adoption is not limited to customer-facing chatbots, automated assistants or new software products. It can also change the systems, teams and processes that keep large organisations running.
For businesses, working with external technology partners can provide access to specialist skills and delivery capacity that may take time to build internally. For employees, the same changes can mean roles being relocated, redesigned or removed.
The next few years will show whether Qantas can deliver the technology improvements it expects while managing the impact on its workforce.
The bottom line: Qantas is betting on a more connected, automated and AI-enabled operation. But the transition will be measured not only by how quickly its systems improve, but also by how it handles the 850 roles caught in the middle of that transformation.
