As part of its program to slash 5,000 jobs and save $2 billion, Qantas is closing two call centres and moving all phone handling to Hobart.

The airline says it will close its Melbourne call centre, which employs the equivalent of 250 full-time staff in Camberwell, by mid-next year, while the Brisbane call centre with 200 full-time equivalent staff will shut in 2016.

The losses for these two cities will, however, be a win for Hobart, which will become the airline's sole call centre in Australia.

The Hobart centre currently employs the equivalent of 200 full-time staff, but Qantas says all employees currently working at the call centres in Brisbane and Melbourne will be offered jobs in Tasmania should they wish to move.

Qantas says it will also provide relocation funding for employees who do choose to move to Hobart.

Employees who do not want to move will be offered employment until their call centre closes, and then a redundancy package.

The airline's head of domestic operations, Lyell Strambi, says it is too inefficient to have call centres in three different places.

"Having call centres in three different states presents a number of challenges, including property costs, duplication of management and operational complexity," he said in a statement.

Qantas has not put a figure on how many staff it expects to leave the organisation as a result of the move, but it is no doubt banking on many staff electing not to move to Tasmania in order to achieve its targeted savings.

Ingrid Stitt from the Australian Services Union says a meeting is scheduled with Qantas tomorrow, and she says the union will be seeking more detail on staff relocation.

"It's a big call to uproot your family and move to another state," she said.

Irene Monroe from the Together union says staff and their representatives were not consulted before the decision was made.

"Staff are devastated. These are long-term Qantas employees - we spoke to someone this morning that had been there the entire time that operation had existed, so he's been there for 35 years, and he finds out with 10 minutes notice that his job no longer exists," she said.

The airline says call volume has halved since 2005 as more customers use the internet and mobile app to do business.

State against state

As for why Qantas chose to consolidate to Hobart, Mr Strambi says it was largely due to the newness of the facility and lower costs.

"Hobart was the logical choice for us to base our Australia call centre operations because of the modern facilities, the space available within the existing site and the ongoing costs of operating there," he said.

"The Tasmanian Government has been very supportive of our Hobart call centre and is passionate about the future of Qantas group operations in the state."

The new Tasmanian Premier, Will Hodgman, says the decision is a coup for his state and demonstrates its advantages for businesses.

"I would certainly roll out the welcoming mat to those in Victoria and Brisbane who might seek to relocate to Tasmania and continue their employment with Qantas," he told Tasmania's Parliament.

"Qantas have advised on the key reasons for their decision - that Hobart provided a superior cost structure compared to the other locations in Victoria and Queensland."

It appears that Tasmania also won out due to a more favourable assistance package for Qantas than the other states, but Mr Hodgman says it is too early to provide details on what the assistance is until the deal is finalised.

The ABC understands Qantas asked for more than $7 million from the Victorian Government to save only some of the jobs, with no guarantee they would be kept for more than six months.

It is believed the funding would have included a substantial upgrade of the Camberwell facility.

"We put an offer on the table, it's obviously very much a sad fact that that wasn't supported, but this Government will do everything we can to support Victorian jobs," Mr Guy said.

Queensland Premier Campbell Newman took a more positive perspective, saying that Qantas had recently brought extra jobs to Queensland.

"Qantas have also established their heavy engineering and catering in Brisbane in the last year or so and that's a big commitment to this state," he said.

"They have to make their corporate decisions, but jobs have moved into Queensland with them and clearly some have to move out, and I certainly expect that Qantas will look after the families."

Qantas says these changes will not affect its New Zealand call centre, which has been running for over a decade and mostly handles calls from English-speaking customers outside Australia.

Newcastle engineers made redundant

Meanwhile, 25 QantasLink ground crew at Newcastle Airport have been made redundant.

It is understood the entire ground crew staff at the facility have lost their jobs.

Employees were called to a meeting this morning and told they will finish on June 23.

The ABC understands that a company called Aerocare will take over the Newcastle ground operations for QantasLink.