boosted earnings by $70m, saving $660m capex as A$

Qantas Will Spend A$200 Mln on Computers, Financial Review Says
By Gavin Evans

Sydney, May 29 (Bloomberg) -- Qantas Airways Ltd., Australia's biggest carrier, will spend more than A$200 million ($112 million) on new computer systems during the next three years, the Australian Financial Review reported.

The investment will reduce back-office jobs and will lower management costs across the company's human resources, finance, procurement and engineering units by 15 percent to 40 percent, the newspaper reported, citing Qantas Chief Financial Officer Peter Gregg. The plans will be announced next week, the newspaper said.

``Qantas has some 600 systems that have been
Gregg said that for each U.S. cent the Australian dollar rises, the company's profit is boosted by A$14 million and its capital expenditure bill for aircraft and parts is cut by A$132 million. The Australian dollar has risen more than 5 U.S. cents this year.

(Australian Financial Review, 5-29)