Qantas, Australia’s national carrier, said on Friday it would cut 1,500 jobs and abandon plans to increase flying capacity as part of a stringent cost cutting plan aimed at dealing with the impact of record fuel prices.

The job cuts, equivalent to 4 per cent of Qantas’ workforce, come after weeks of speculation that the carrier would be forced to take drastic action to cope with the crisis crippling the aviation industry world wide.