Qantas hands Indians AU$191m in contracts

Qantas has awarded Indian outsourcer Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) the lion's share of AU$191 million in contracts for its Applications Services and Transformation (AST) outsourcing program.

The airline handed seven year contracts worth AU$120 million and AU$71 million to TCS and Satyam Computer Services respectively.

Tata said in a statement it would be the lead partner for Qantas' transition phase, and would provide support and maintenance to all of Qantas' key IT applications in airport operations and commercial systems.

The Tata contract is believed to be the biggest Indian outsourcing deal in Australia.

Meanwhile Satyam said it will provide application development and maintenance services for over 150 applications.

The awarding of the contracts follows the airline's 12 month review of its IT systems, which culminated in a decision last month to axe 340 IT jobs. More than 200 of those jobs will be sent to India.

At the time Qantas chief executive officer, Geoff Dixon, said: "There is an increasing concentration of suppliers with the skills we need for the ongoing support of these applications, and these suppliers are achieving a scale and efficiency that airlines like Qantas simply cannot match."

Qantas shortlisted the two Indian vendors earlier this year for the contracts making up its AST program.

The contract work begins this month.