Qantas slashes 480 jobs in Sydney
Sydney: Qantas plans to cut 480 jobs in Sydney as it is closing down its heavy maintenance operations here. The B747 maintenance operations will close in May, Qantas said today. The airline made this decision after its reviewed all its aircraft engineering operations.

Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said the airline would retain its wide body heavy jet maintenance facilities in Australia.

"Retaining three wide body maintenance facilities in Australia is no longer viable under this scenario," he said. Like most global airlines, Qantas' margins have been hurt by a rising jet fuel price, which remain around historic highs.
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Oil falls to $60
London: Oil prices fell to about $60 a barrel on Wednesday after the president of OPEC said the group will maintain output and the US Department of Energy reported a sharp rise in crude stocks last week.

The US Department of Energy on Wednesday said US crude stocks rose by 6.8 million barrels in the week ending March 3 to 335.1 million barrels — the highest level since 1999. It attributed the increase to a rise in imports and a fall in refinery use, due to seasonal maintenance, which created a back-up.

Markets are keeping an eye on the situation in Nigeria, the world's 11th-largest oil producer, where recent attacks have reduced the country's production by 455,000 barrels a day, about 20 per cent of its output.
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