Qantas plans to avoid Xmas chaos from industrial action

Canberra [Australia], December 20: Qantas has sought to reassure passengers industrial action by maintenance engineers will not impact the airline's flights in the lead-up to Christmas.
The airline says it has put contingencies in place for industrial action on Friday, and similar action from engineers earlier in December had no impact on customers.
But unplanned maintenance issues, adverse weather, or other events could still impact operations, the airline said.
"Our teams are working hard to ensure that this industrial action has minimal impact on customers' holiday plans and we have put a number of contingencies in place and extra resourcing on the ground to ensure our customers get away as planned," a Qantas spokesperson said in a statement.
The airline said about 160 line maintenance engineers were rostered to work during Friday's industrial action.
It said additional groups taking action were part of long-term maintenance teams that did not perform day-of-operation engineering support.
The Australian Workers Union, part of the Qantas Engineers' Alliance, said engineers were striking again on social media, posting a picture of Qantas pyjamas accompanied by a card giving "a special thank you to our Qantas team for everything that you do".
"Because instead of negotiating fair wages with their highly-skilled engineering workforce, Qantas reckons a pair of spare business class pyjamas will pay the bills," the union said.
The airline said it was offering engineers a competitive package including pay rises, upskilling and career progression enabling them to earn significantly more in the next few years.
Industrial action has taken place since late September as part of ongoing negotiations but Qantas says it has managed the impact to avoid delays or cancellations for customers.
"As corporate travel winds down for the year we have built more resilience into the operation this Friday, which will see predominantly Christmas holidaymakers coming through airports," the airline said.
"It's disappointing to see the unions targeting people travelling to see loved ones at this time of year."
Additional crew aircraft and crew are on standby to help ensure a safe and smooth travel experience, Qantas said.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Cooperation