Qantas cancel all flights and lock out their workforce

[hakan]

Qantas grounds all flights
October 29, 2011 - 5:26PM .

Qantas will lock out all its employees covered by the agreements that are currently in dispute.

And it has grounded its entire domestic and international fleets indefinitely.

‘‘We are locking out until the unions withdraw their extreme claim and reach agreement with us,’’ Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce told a press conference today.

"This course of action has been forced upon us ... by the actions of three unions," Mr Joyce said.

"The ball is in their court.

"They have to decide how badly they want to hurt Qantas.

"We will provide full refunds to those who choose to cancel their flights."

Mr Joyce said his hand had been tipped by the impossible demands of the three unions.

‘‘They are trashing our strategy and our brand,’’ he said.

‘‘They are deliberately destabilising the company and there is no end in sight.’’

If the industrial action continued, Qantas would have no choice but to shut down its business ‘‘part by part’’, the chief executive said.

He believed the lock out and grounding of the fleet was the only effective avenue at his disposal to bring about a solution to the dispute.

Mr Joyce said he was sorry the course of action had become necessary but the ball was now in the unions’ court.

‘‘They must decide just how badly they want to hurt Qantas, their members ... and the travelling public,’’ he said.

The airline will offer hotel accommodation and alternative flights to those who are mid-journey and cannot get home when the grounding takes effect.

There will be refunds and ticket transfers available to passengers whose flights are cancelled.

Qantas will keep passengers updated on the situation via its website, Facebook page and Twitter.

The lockout will begin at 8pm AEDT on Monday.


Source http://www.smh.com.au/travel/qantas-gro ... z1c9NP3p3U

[sn26567]

Virgin Australia is in discussions with alliance partners Delta Air Lines, Air New Zealand, and Etihad to add capacity into Australia.

Jetstar flights, QantasLink flights and Qantas flights across the Tasman operated by Jetconnect will continue. Express Freighters Australia and Atlas Freighters will also continue to operate.

[sn26567]

Chaos at Singapore, Heathrow airports after Qantas groundings

Hundreds of disgruntled passengers at London's Heathrow airport terminal three are trying to make alternative arrangements after Qantas grounded its entire fleet. Some have managed to book flights with alternative airlines, but others are left stranded with no clear alternative.

QF32 was the first of three flights due out of Heathrow on Saturday (local time), but another two in Frankfurt are also on hold.

Singapore

The Qantas grounding is also causing chaos at Singapore airport.

The pilots and crew appeared just as shocked by the news as passengers, but have been told not to talk to anyone about the details.

With Singapore a hub for many Qantas flights, lots of passengers are now stuck in the terminal as authorities try to arrange flights with other airlines and organise hotel accommodation.

More from ABC News

[Bralo20]

The saga continues...

Fair Work Australia has adjourned the hearing for 45 minutes after all parties gave their evidence. Qantas wants a termination of all industrial actions while other parties are requesting a suspension of the actions.

Alan Joyce, Qantas CEO has stated previously that in case of a suspension he will consider to remain the fleet grounded.

A newest Qantas update through Twitter says that the fleet is indeed at least grounded until tomorrow noon, tomorrow morning a decision will be made about the later flights.


An update of Fair Work Australia is expected in less then an hour.

[Duigan]

Latest shows Jetstar - Qantas budget airline is still flying
Their pilots are on a completely different contract

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/895 ... -executive

[Bralo20]

Also their New Zealand branch "JetConnect" which operates flights under the Qantas brand is operating as normals and so does QantasLink.

[sn26567]

An independent tribunal (Fair Work Australia) has just ruled to permanently terminate the industrial action that has grounded Qantas.

Grounding will be technically over at 9am. If Qantas and the unions can't come to an agreement in 21 days, the Fair Work Australia full bench will rule on the dispute.

More from BBC

[sn26567]

Qantas has decided to offer a free return ticket within Australia or between Australia and New Zealand to 100,000 passengers grounded by the recent lock-out.

A nice gesture to regain their confidence.