Australia's Qantas refuses to comment on job cut speculation

Australia's largest airline Qantas is preparing to cut5,000 jobs in response to an expected huge amount of losses in the first half of the 2013/14 financial year, local media reported on Tuesday.

But the airline has refused to comment on job cut speculation.

"There is lots of speculation about what things we will or won' t announce on Thursday, but we're not in a position to comment on that speculation," a Qantas spokesman told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

"We have said that we will be making some tough decisions in order to achieve 2 billion AU dollars (1.8 million U.S. dollars) in cost savings over the next three years, which is a consequence of an unprecedented set of market conditions now facing Qantas."