diff --git a/cmd/incus/operation.go b/cmd/incus/operation.go
index 75eaddca2e0..b646546b30b 100644
--- a/cmd/incus/operation.go
+++ b/cmd/incus/operation.go
@@ -17,6 +17,11 @@ type cmdOperation struct {
 	global *cmdGlobal
 }
 
+type operationColumn struct {
+	Name string
+	Data func(api.Operation) string
+}
+
 func (c *cmdOperation) Command() *cobra.Command {
 	cmd := &cobra.Command{}
 	cmd.Use = usage("operation")
@@ -96,6 +101,7 @@ type cmdOperationList struct {
 	operation *cmdOperation
 
 	flagFormat      string
+	flagColumns     string
 	flagAllProjects bool
 }
 
@@ -105,15 +111,106 @@ func (c *cmdOperationList) Command() *cobra.Command {
 	cmd.Aliases = []string{"ls"}
 	cmd.Short = i18n.G("List background operations")
 	cmd.Long = cli.FormatSection(i18n.G("Description"), i18n.G(
-		`List background operations`))
+		`List background operations
+		
+Default column layout: itdscCl
+
+== Columns ==
+The -c option takes a comma separated list of arguments that control
+which instance attributes to output when displaying in table or csv
+format.
+
+Column arguments are either pre-defined shorthand chars (see below),
+or (extended) config keys.
+
+Commas between consecutive shorthand chars are optional.
+
+Pre-defined column shorthand chars:
+  i - ID
+  t - Type
+  d - Description
+  s - State
+  c - Cancelable
+  C - Created
+  l - Location(clustered only)`))
 	cmd.Flags().StringVarP(&c.flagFormat, "format", "f", "table", i18n.G("Format (csv|json|table|yaml|compact)")+"``")
 	cmd.Flags().BoolVar(&c.flagAllProjects, "all-projects", false, i18n.G("List operations from all projects")+"``")
+	cmd.Flags().StringVarP(&c.flagColumns, "columns", "c", defaultOperationColumns, i18n.G("Columns")+"``")
 
 	cmd.RunE = c.Run
 
 	return cmd
 }
 
+const defaultOperationColumns = "itdscCl"
+
+func (c *cmdOperationList) parseColumns() ([]operationColumn, error) {
+	columnsShorthandMap := map[rune]operationColumn{
+		'i': {i18n.G("ID"), c.operationIDcolumnData},
+		't': {i18n.G("TYPE"), c.typeColumnData},
+		'd': {i18n.G("DESCRIPTION"), c.descriptionColumnData},
+		's': {i18n.G("STATE"), c.stateColumnData},
+		'c': {i18n.G("CANCELABLE"), c.cancelableColumnData},
+		'C': {i18n.G("CREATED"), c.createdColumnData},
+		'l': {i18n.G("LOCATION"), c.locationColumnData},
+	}
+
+	columnList := strings.Split(c.flagColumns, ",")
+
+	columns := []operationColumn{}
+
+	for _, columnEntry := range columnList {
+		if columnEntry == "" {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf(i18n.G("Empty column entry (redundant, leading or trailing command) in '%s'"), c.flagColumns)
+		}
+
+		for _, columnRune := range columnEntry {
+			column, ok := columnsShorthandMap[columnRune]
+			if !ok {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf(i18n.G("Unknown column shorthand char '%c' in '%s'"), columnRune, columnEntry)
+			}
+
+			columns = append(columns, column)
+		}
+	}
+
+	return columns, nil
+}
+
+func (c *cmdOperationList) operationIDcolumnData(op api.Operation) string {
+	return op.ID
+}
+
+func (c *cmdOperationList) typeColumnData(op api.Operation) string {
+	return strings.ToUpper(op.Class)
+}
+
+func (c *cmdOperationList) descriptionColumnData(op api.Operation) string {
+	return op.Description
+}
+
+func (c *cmdOperationList) stateColumnData(op api.Operation) string {
+	return strings.ToUpper(op.Status)
+}
+
+func (c *cmdOperationList) cancelableColumnData(op api.Operation) string {
+	strCancelable := i18n.G("NO")
+
+	if op.MayCancel {
+		strCancelable = i18n.G("YES")
+	}
+
+	return strCancelable
+}
+
+func (c *cmdOperationList) createdColumnData(op api.Operation) string {
+	return op.CreatedAt.Local().Format(dateLayout)
+}
+
+func (c *cmdOperationList) locationColumnData(op api.Operation) string {
+	return op.Location
+}
+
 func (c *cmdOperationList) Run(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 	// Quick checks.
 	exit, err := c.global.CheckArgs(cmd, args, 0, 1)
@@ -149,33 +246,43 @@ func (c *cmdOperationList) Run(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	// Parse column flags.
+	columns, err := c.parseColumns()
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
 	// Render the table
 	data := [][]string{}
 	for _, op := range operations {
-		cancelable := i18n.G("NO")
-		if op.MayCancel {
-			cancelable = i18n.G("YES")
+		line := []string{}
+		for _, column := range columns {
+			if column.Name == i18n.G("LOCATION") {
+				if resource.server.IsClustered() {
+					line = append(line, column.Data(op))
+				}
+
+			} else {
+				line = append(line, column.Data(op))
+			}
 		}
 
-		entry := []string{op.ID, strings.ToUpper(op.Class), op.Description, strings.ToUpper(op.Status), cancelable, op.CreatedAt.Local().Format(dateLayout)}
-		if resource.server.IsClustered() {
-			entry = append(entry, op.Location)
-		}
-
-		data = append(data, entry)
+		data = append(data, line)
 	}
 
 	sort.Sort(cli.SortColumnsNaturally(data))
 
-	header := []string{
-		i18n.G("ID"),
-		i18n.G("TYPE"),
-		i18n.G("DESCRIPTION"),
-		i18n.G("STATE"),
-		i18n.G("CANCELABLE"),
-		i18n.G("CREATED")}
-	if resource.server.IsClustered() {
-		header = append(header, i18n.G("LOCATION"))
+	header := []string{}
+	for _, column := range columns {
+		if column.Name == "LOCATION" {
+			if resource.server.IsClustered() {
+				header = append(header, column.Name)
+			}
+
+		} else {
+			header = append(header, column.Name)
+		}
+
 	}
 
 	return cli.RenderTable(c.flagFormat, header, data, operations)