By Marc Lavine
Around 70,000 stranded travellers hope to carry on their trip as Qantas flights resume after a huge strike
Australia's
Qantas returned to the skies Monday, after a tribunal ended a
destructive industrial dispute that grounded its entire fleet, sparking
passenger and political fury.
Qantas commercial flights began taking off at 0441 GMT as the company began clearing the backlog of passengers, ending an extraordinary 46-hour shutdown that threatened to damage Australia's economy and the airline's brand.
The shock grounding, announced Saturday by Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce, stranded 70,000 passengers in 22 cities worldwide, dramatically escalating a long-running feud with airline unions.
Investors hailed the government industrial tribunal's order early Monday to resume services and put an end to months of strikes and industrial action by baggage handlers, engineers and pilots.
Qantas's share price surged to close 4.4 percent higher as Joyce hailed the tribunal for giving Qantas the certainty that the airline, its passengers and shareholders needed. Gatwick airport passenger transport
"The clouds are gone, people can now move with confidence with Qantas," he told reporters.
He vowed "a safe and phased approach" to a full resumption of services Tuesday and apologised to customers for the disruption.
"We will be doing all that we can to put things right," he said, playing down any long-term damage to the "Flying Kangaroo" brand and vowing to press ahead with an Asia-focused restructuring that has infuriated the unions.
But ratings agency Moody's Investors Services was less positive, saying it was considering downgrading Qantas's credit rating after the fleet grounding.
The shutdown and the airline's troubled industrial relations were "likely to place pressure on the airline's forward bookings, profitability and longer-term brand equity," it said.
And anger among passengers marooned in departure halls and hotels around the world remained strong.
"I'm furious, this whole experience has been so frustrating that I'll never fly Qantas again," said South African executive Jackie Sasso, 40, who was stranded while on a business trip to Sydney.
"It's been terrible and I haven't been able to find out what's going on -- I was on hold on the phone to Qantas for two hours and got nothing," she said as she struggled to get home. "Frustrating isn't the word."
The iconic 90-year-old flag carrier, the world's 10th largest airline by traffic, stunned the nation Saturday when it announced its decision to ground all aircraft in a bid to bring the acrimonious labour row to a head.
Joyce however did not believe the grounding would have a lasting impact on Qantas's brand or spark a long-term flight of its passengers to other airlines.
"I have every confidence that we will recover back to a 65 percent domestic market share and recover internationally," he said.
Fearing the grounding would wreak serious economic damage, Prime Minister Julia Gillard took the rare step of asking the industrial regulator Fair Work Australia to step in to end the action.
After a marathon hearing, the tribunal granted Qantas's wish and Monday ordered a complete end to industrial action by both sides, as tourism officials expressed anxiety about the long-term impact on Australia's image.
Management and three unions are locked in dispute over pay and Qantas's plans to refocus its international business on Asia. They now have 21 days to settle their differences or face a compulsory arbitration decision.
Joyce welcomed the ruling, but defended his action, saying he had no choice as union leaders had threatened strikes could last a year. Qantas says industrial action was costing it Aus$15 million (US$16 million) per week.
Unions were disappointed at the Fair Work decision, saying they may challenge it and questioning whether Qantas would negotiate in good faith in the next three weeks.
"I think they (Qantas) will end up stonewalling us for 21 days, and we'll end up in forced arbitration," pilots' union vice-president Captain Richard Woodward said.
Gillard and her ministers were angry that Qantas had been grounded with virtually no notice on a busy weekend ahead of the Melbourne Cup horse race and while Australia was hosting the 54-nation Commonwealth summit. travel to heathrow airport taxis
Joyce insisted he had warned a grounding was possible, but Gillard branded the action "extreme" and unnecessary.
"I believe that that action by Qantas was an extreme action to take. It has caused chaos for the travelling public and Qantas had other options available at its disposal," the prime minister said.
Qantas commercial flights began taking off at 0441 GMT as the company began clearing the backlog of passengers, ending an extraordinary 46-hour shutdown that threatened to damage Australia's economy and the airline's brand.
The shock grounding, announced Saturday by Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce, stranded 70,000 passengers in 22 cities worldwide, dramatically escalating a long-running feud with airline unions.
Investors hailed the government industrial tribunal's order early Monday to resume services and put an end to months of strikes and industrial action by baggage handlers, engineers and pilots.
Qantas's share price surged to close 4.4 percent higher as Joyce hailed the tribunal for giving Qantas the certainty that the airline, its passengers and shareholders needed. Gatwick airport passenger transport
"The clouds are gone, people can now move with confidence with Qantas," he told reporters.
He vowed "a safe and phased approach" to a full resumption of services Tuesday and apologised to customers for the disruption.
"We will be doing all that we can to put things right," he said, playing down any long-term damage to the "Flying Kangaroo" brand and vowing to press ahead with an Asia-focused restructuring that has infuriated the unions.
But ratings agency Moody's Investors Services was less positive, saying it was considering downgrading Qantas's credit rating after the fleet grounding.
The shutdown and the airline's troubled industrial relations were "likely to place pressure on the airline's forward bookings, profitability and longer-term brand equity," it said.
And anger among passengers marooned in departure halls and hotels around the world remained strong.
"I'm furious, this whole experience has been so frustrating that I'll never fly Qantas again," said South African executive Jackie Sasso, 40, who was stranded while on a business trip to Sydney.
"It's been terrible and I haven't been able to find out what's going on -- I was on hold on the phone to Qantas for two hours and got nothing," she said as she struggled to get home. "Frustrating isn't the word."
The iconic 90-year-old flag carrier, the world's 10th largest airline by traffic, stunned the nation Saturday when it announced its decision to ground all aircraft in a bid to bring the acrimonious labour row to a head.
Joyce however did not believe the grounding would have a lasting impact on Qantas's brand or spark a long-term flight of its passengers to other airlines.
"I have every confidence that we will recover back to a 65 percent domestic market share and recover internationally," he said.
Fearing the grounding would wreak serious economic damage, Prime Minister Julia Gillard took the rare step of asking the industrial regulator Fair Work Australia to step in to end the action.
After a marathon hearing, the tribunal granted Qantas's wish and Monday ordered a complete end to industrial action by both sides, as tourism officials expressed anxiety about the long-term impact on Australia's image.
Management and three unions are locked in dispute over pay and Qantas's plans to refocus its international business on Asia. They now have 21 days to settle their differences or face a compulsory arbitration decision.
Joyce welcomed the ruling, but defended his action, saying he had no choice as union leaders had threatened strikes could last a year. Qantas says industrial action was costing it Aus$15 million (US$16 million) per week.
Unions were disappointed at the Fair Work decision, saying they may challenge it and questioning whether Qantas would negotiate in good faith in the next three weeks.
"I think they (Qantas) will end up stonewalling us for 21 days, and we'll end up in forced arbitration," pilots' union vice-president Captain Richard Woodward said.
Gillard and her ministers were angry that Qantas had been grounded with virtually no notice on a busy weekend ahead of the Melbourne Cup horse race and while Australia was hosting the 54-nation Commonwealth summit. travel to heathrow airport taxis
Joyce insisted he had warned a grounding was possible, but Gillard branded the action "extreme" and unnecessary.
"I believe that that action by Qantas was an extreme action to take. It has caused chaos for the travelling public and Qantas had other options available at its disposal," the prime minister said.
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