Qantas to close Avalon maintenance base

QANTAS engineers have slammed the airline's decision to close its maintenance base at Avalon next year, saying it will rip $50 million out of the Victorian economy.Qantas Domestic chief executive Lyall Strambi announced today that the airline plans to close the heavy engineering base near Melbourne from next March at the cost of up to 300 jobs because there is not enough work to keep it going.