Qantas says Union Action Means Five Aircraft to be Grounded on Monday

Qantas has published a new schedule which will start on Monday with almost 400 less domestic flights and around 60,000 less seats for the next month.

The flight cancellations are due to Qantas grounding five aircraft as a result of a backlog of maintenance caused by industrial action by the Australian Licenced Aircraft Engineers Association.

The union has had overtime bans in place since the start of September as well as an official instruction for its members to go-slow on day to day work. These bans are still in place and the union has indicated they will remain in place until at least Christmas.

Qantas has today been contacting customers on cancelled flights to make other arrangements.

Qantas Group Executive, Government & Corporate Affairs Olivia Wirth said the temporary postponing of a four hour strike in Adelaide and one-hour strikes in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide for two weeks was welcome but would not provide any significant relief for Qantas passengers.

“The coordinated attacks on Qantas and our passengers from the pilots’ union, the licensed engineers’ union and the Transport Workers’ Union are continuing to impact the business and our passengers,” Ms Wirth said.

“While we welcome the temporary postponement of some strike action, the most damaging industrial action is still in place and still causing an increasing backlog of maintenance on our fleet.

“Mr Purvinas knows that his token offer to suspend a few one hour strikes and a stop work meeting in Adelaide will not help get these five grounded aircraft back up in the air.”

“The biggest impact on Qantas and our passengers comes from the overtime bans and ‘go slow’ on work, which have caused the backlog of maintenance.

“We hope the union is genuine and will negotiate in good faith to help get a new agreement for our 1600 licensed aircraft engineers.”

“The union is still demanding significant pay increases and guarantees that old work practices remain in place despite new generation aircraft requiring less maintenance, less often.

“The union is still demanding that Qantas hands over control of parts of the business to union leaders. Until the union drops its unreasonable demands we are not going to get any closer to an agreement.”

From Monday, two Boeing 737 aircraft will be parked at Avalon. A further two 737s will go on a weekly rotation through a hangar at Avalon over the next month. One 767 will be parked in Brisbane.