The Qantas Group will suspend international flying from late March following a drop in demand triggered by the coronavirus crisis and the government’s advice not to travel.

Two-thirds of employees will be temporarily stood down in the move to “preserve as many jobs as possible longer term”.

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Flights will continue until late March to “assist with repatriation” before being suspended until at least the end of May.

“As the national carrier, Qantas is in ongoing discussions with the federal government about continuation of some strategic links,” the group said in a statement on Thursday.

The Group will also reduce domestic capacity by 60 per cent by cutting frequency, not routes.

It said it will “maintain connectivity” to almost all Australian domestic and regional destinations through Qantas, QantasLink and Jetstar.

Qantas planes. File image. Credit: Ryan Pierse / Getty Images

More than 150 aircraft will be temporarily grounded, including all of Qantas’ A380s, 747s and B787-9s and Jetstar’s B787-8s.

The move follows cuts to 90 per cent of the group’s international flying and about 60 per cent of domestic flying earlier this week.

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said efforts to “contain the spread of coronavirus have led to a huge drop in travel demand”.

“This is having a devastating impact on all airlines,” he said in a statement.

‘Inevitable’

Qantas and Jetstar will stand down the majority of its 30,000 employees until at least the end of May.

Employees will be able to use annual and long service leave as well as “additional support mechanisms”.

Chevron Right Icon ‘Periods of leave without pay for some employees are inevitable.’

However, the group acknowledged that “periods of leave without pay for some employees are inevitable”.

Joyce said the “reality” of grounding planes, means “sadly there’s no work for most of our people”.

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce. Credit: AAP

“Rather than lose these highly skilled employees who we’ll need when this crisis passes, we are instead standing (them down),” he said.

“Most of our people will be using various types of paid leave during this time, and we’ll have a number of support options in place.

“We’re also talking to our partners like Woolworths about temporary job opportunities for our people.

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“This is a very hard set of circumstances for our people, as it is for lots of parts of the community right now.”

A $201 million shareholder dividend payment will also be deferred until September 1.

All bookings on cancelled flights will be converted to a travel credit.

Affected customers will be contacted directly from Monday.