WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Qantas plans to cut at least 6,000 jobs and keep 15,000 more workers on extended furloughs as Australia’s largest airline tries to survive the coronavirus pandemic.

Qantas announced a plan today to reduce costs by billions of dollars and raise fresh capital. The plan includes grounding 100 planes for a year or more and immediately retiring its six remaining Boeing 747 planes.

Chief Executive Alan Joyce said the airline has to become smaller as it braces for several years of much lower revenues. He said the furloughed workers faced a long interruption to their airline careers.

“The actions that we’re taking will have a huge impact on thousands of our people. This is something that weighs very heavily on all of us,” Joyce told reporters. “This is something that we don’t make a decision on very easily. But the collapse of billions of dollars in revenue leaves us with little choice if we are to save as many jobs as possible longer term.”

Joyce said the airline entered the crisis in a better position than most airlines and remained optimistic about the future.

“This crisis has still hit us very, very hard and the impact will be felt for a long time,” Joyce said.