Australian flag carrier Qantas on Thursday announced it would slash 400 maintenance jobs as part of a restructure aimed at cutting costs and shifting focus to Asia. The airline said the cuts would involve 150 staff and 250 contractors, as it consolidates its maintenance operations to achieve savings under heavy competition, fuel costs and the strong Australian dollar. The move follows the loss of hundreds of maintenance posts six months ago. Lyell Strambi, chief of Qantas’s domestic arm, said fleet modernisation had significantly reduced the need for engineering staff, with newer-generation aircraft needing less maintenance, less often. “The Qantas group fleet age is at its lowest level in 20 years, with 122 new aircraft joining the fleet in the past four-and-a-half years,” Strambi said. “I believe we have some of the most highly skilled and capable engineers in the world,” he added. “Unfortunately we just have too many for the work we have right now and the work we expect to have in future.” The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association said the cuts were “becoming dangerous and Qantas management are disregarding basic laws of aviation safety”, adding that it was on track to becoming an “unsafe operator”.