Seven-year IT services deal signed by IBM, Qantas

According to a report the outsourcing deal is valued at up to $200 million which could cost up to 178 Qantas workers their jobs

IBM Corp. said that it has signed a seven-year outsourcing contract with Qantas, Australia's largest airline, for the provision of project delivery functions, as part of the airline's improved business efficiency goals.

David Hall, Qantas executive manager of corporate services and technology, said the agreement with IBM will enable a fast transformation, increased efficiencies, and improved customer experience.

"Qantas believes the partnership with IBM will give us access to IBM's scale, strength, expertise, and the latest tools and technologies available in the global marketplace. We are confident that IBM will deliver significant benefits to our business," he said.

Under the contract, Qantas will gain access to IBM's deep research, analytics and business optimization capabilities.

"Qantas' partnership with IBM represents a major step towards the airline's mission to lead and innovate in the competitive airline industry," said Katie Bambrick, IBM Global Business Services Managing Partner for Australia and New Zealand.

"Drawing on IBM's advanced technologies and the airline industry expertise IBM has built over the last half-century, this partnership has an exciting future," said Ms Bambrick.

According to Australian IT the outsourcing deal with IBM is valued at up to $200 million which could cost up to 178 workers their jobs.

Staff at Qantas's project delivery team are set to transfer to IBM as part of the deal. Those who do not accept new employment terms from IBM will be forced to take redundancy, the report said.

Agencies

As airline demand falls Boeing likely to axe 4,500 jobs

Boeing Co., the world's second-largest airplane maker, is planning to cut about 3 percent of its work force as jetliner demand falls, hurt by the global economic downturn.

The Chicago-based company on Friday said it expects to cut about 4,500 positions from its passenger jet business, which has factories in the Seattle area. Many of the cuts will be in areas not directly associated with aircraft production.

The news comes a day after Boeing reported a 15 percent decline in passenger jet deliveries for 2008, when it faced an eight-week strike by union workers and shrinking airline demand. The lower deliveries ensured Boeing's archrival, Europe's Airbus, retained its rank as the world's top plane maker.

Orders for Boeing planes, meanwhile, plunged by more than half last year, following three straight years of exceptionally strong bookings, a grim reminder that carriers have been scaling back spending since the summer to cope with fewer air travelers.

Most of the job cuts announced Friday are expected to occur in Washington state in the second quarter of the year, the company said. Boeing says employees will receive 60-day notices starting in late February.

"We have made significant strides in recent years to achieve greater efficiency and productivity, but we still face challenges that we must address," Scott Carson, president and chief executive of Boeing's commercial airplanes division, said in a statement.

Boeing said the cuts will enable it to continue focusing on development programs, airplane deliveries, productivity improvements and quality, as well as customer support.

The company said this year's cuts will eliminate roughly the number of positions added to its commercial aircraft operation in 2008, lowering the total number to 63,500. Boeing employed a total of 162,191 people as of Dec. 31.

Agencies