Qantas Airways will cut 5000 jobs as it moves to speed up its $2 billion cost cutting plan.

The cuts,to made over a three year period, will involve the loss of 1500 management and non-operational roles and comes as the carrier booked a $252 million underlying loss for the six months to December 31.

Qantas will also exit the Perth-Singapore route and use smaller aircraft on flights from Sydney and Brisbane to Singapore.