Labour row grounds Qantas flights

29 October 2011 Last updated at 03:22 ET

Qantas Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce called it an “unbelievable decision”

The Australian airline Qantas is to ground all international and domestic flights with immediate effect due to an industrial dispute.

A statement said all employees involved in the strike would be locked out from Monday evening and flights grounded from 0600 GMT on Saturday.

Aircraft currently in the air will complete their flights, but there will be no further departures.

Chief executive Alan Joyce called his decision “unbelievable”.

The airline has been hit by a series of costly strikes.

Baggage handlers, engineers and pilots have been involved in the action costing the company A$15m (US$16m) a week.

Total costs are estimated at A$68m, the company said.

The airline issued a statement on its Facebook page saying customers booked on Qantas flights should not go to the airport until further notice. The airline said a full refund would be available to those affected by the grounding.

Tensions between the unions and the Qantas management started in August after the airline announced a restructuring and outsourcing plan.

The union members have voiced their concerns against the proposal, saying it would result in job cuts at the airline’s Australian operations.

“The airline will be grounded as long as it takes to reach a conclusion on this,” said chief executive Alan Joyce.

He said that he would not take “the easy way out” and agree to union demands. “That would destroy Qantas in the long term.”

“I’m actually taking the bold decision, an unbelievable decision, a very hard decision, to ground this airline.”

Mr Joyce said he made the decision early Saturday and then gained the approval of the Qantas board.

Send r pictures and videos to rpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to 61124 (UK) or +44 7624 800 100 (International). If have a large file can upload here.

Read the terms and conditions

— ’re ’s , . Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.