Qantas to axe 5000 jobs

Qantas will axe 5000 jobs after posting a $252 million first half loss.

The airline says the job cuts are part of its a bid to cut $2 billion in costs over three years.

It also says it will cut capital expenditure by $1 billion over the next two financial years and is planning big changes to its fleet and network.

Meanwhile, Qantas has announced it would hand back its Brisbane Airport lease for $112 million, though it will retain exclusive use of most of northern end of terminal until 2018.