Qantas AI Jobs are Coming to India as Outsourcing Deal Affects 850 Roles

Australian airline Qantas expects around 850 corporate roles to be affected over the coming years under a new outsourcing partnership with Accenture, with much of the work moving to the consultancy's teams in India.

Some services currently handled by Qantas employees will move to Accenture, with delivery split between teams in India and Australia. The first changes are expected by mid-2027.

Qantas said the partnership would modernise the technology and data systems supporting its operations. Its existing infrastructure includes more than 1,000 legacy applications built up over decades that were not designed to work together.

"That means fundamentally redesigning how the work behind our airline gets done, so it is simpler, more connected, and keeps getting better, with automation and AI built in from the start," Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson said in a statement. Accenture will invest upfront to accelerate the modernisation of Qantas's data platforms. 

Qantas said it would seek to redeploy affected employees where possible, including through reskilling and retraining, and provide ongoing support.

Qantas is not the first Australian company to restructure its workforce as a result of an Accenture partnership. In February 2026, telecommunications company Telstra said 209 roles were expected to go from its $700 million data and AI joint venture with Accenture, with some work moving to the venture's team in India. The telco was also considering a separate 440 job cuts linked to outsourcing work to Infosys.

Telstra's partnership with Accenture was also aimed at modernising its data infrastructure and advancing its AI strategy, with the joint venture taking on a role in the company's technology transformation.