Fears Qantas job losses may hurt the Douglas Shire's tourism industry are growing following the airline reporting heavy half-yearly losses.

The company recorded a loss of more than $250 million before tax for the second half of last year.

Tourism Port Douglas and Daintree CEO, Doug Ryan says maintaining the national carrier's presence in the far north is vital.    

"If it comes up that they do close the base up here and they concentrate on Jeststar flying into Cairns, that would be a huge issue for conference and incentive business for us," he says.

"That's the industry that would really suffer because we need those business class seats coming into Cairns Airport."

Mr Ryan says fewer flights to Cairns would hurt the Douglas Shire's economy.

"Any reduction in seat capacity into Cairns will have a flow-on effect," he says.

"We just hope that isn't the case."

The airline's CEO, Alan Joyce says the the carrier has been struggling for some time.

"Qantas has been undertaking its biggest ever transformation over the past four years, cutting comparable unit costs by 19 per cent over four years," he says.

Douglas Shire Mayor, Julia Leu says the news could lead to a drop in visitor numbers.

"Tourism is the lifeblood of our region," Cr Leu says.  

"It's estimated eighty per cent of our local economy is dependent on tourism, both directly and indirectly.

"Any reduction in Qantas services and the loss of locally based personnel is a great concern."

Qantas says it will shed the equivalent of 5,000 full-time jobs by 2017.

It is currently unclear how that will affect the company's far north Queesland employees.