Qantas has announced the sale of its wholely owned subsidiary Qantas Defence Services (QDS) to Northrop Grumman Australia as part of its full-year results. The $80 million sale includes the business and other related assets.
QDS provides maintenance and engineering services on aircraft and engines to government and military customers and engineering consultancy services to the naval industry with locations in Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra.
QDS was recently awarded a contract by the Indonesian government to provide heavy maintenance and crew training services for four C130H Hercules transport aircraft at the RAAF base in Richmond, and provides engineering support for the RAAF’s fleet of KC-30A tanker aircraft, the RAAF’s VIP flight operations, and various support services on other defence aircraft and engine programs.
Qantas Group chief executive officer Alan Joyce said he was pleased with the agreement that had been reached with Northrop Grumman.
“We have made it clear that in line with the Qantas Group’s strategy we would explore the sale of non-core assets where it makes commercial sense – just as we’ve done with the sale of our catering facilities at Riverside and Cairns as well as our share in express freight and logistics firm StarTrack,” Joyce said.
“Qantas and Northrop Grumman will work closely over the coming months to work towards satisfaction of a number of conditions related to the separation of QDS from Qantas, which must be met to facilitate completion of the sale.”
Northrop Grumman has indicated it expects to offer employment to the approximately 320 employees of QDS following the completion of sale.
