Sydney, 31 October (Argus) — Australian carrier Qantas Airways will resume flights today after grounding all its global services on 29 October in response to continuing industrial action.
The resumption of flights follows an order from industrial relations body Fair Work Australia that there be up to 21 days of negotiations between Qantas and the three unions representing workers at the airline.
Qantas said today the resumption of flights was subject to approval by the Australia air transport regulator the Civil Aviation Safety Authority. It will take until 2 November before Qantas is able to return to service levels prior to the grounding, said Australian transport minister Anthony Albanese.
The action saw 447 flights cancelled, affecting more than 68,000 passengers around the world, and was an unprecedented move by the management of any airline to ground all its global services over an industrial dispute.
Fair Work Australia said today it had granted the Australian government's application to terminate all industrial action by the Australian Licensed Engineers Union, the Transport Workers Union, the Australian and International Pilots Union and Qantas.
“The industrial process has now passed into the hands of the independent umpire. All parties will be treated equally and we will respect the decisions that are made,” Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said. “We have new and existing agreements with 12 unions. We now anticipate the conclusion of agreements with the remaining three,” Joyce said.
The grounding only affected Qantas flights, with its low-cost airline Jetstar continuing flights, as did its freight services.
The grounding of the Qantas fleet was the only option available to the airline, Joyce said. But such a move was disputed by the Australian prime minister Julia Gillard. “I do not believe that the grounding of all Qantas planes and leave thousands of passengers stranded was the only option for the airline,” she said.
Qantas has offered a pay rise of 3pc each year for a period of three years with no guarantee of job security. Qantas shareholders last week voted to award Joyce a 71pc pay rise to A$5mn ($5.3mn) a year.
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