Airline strikes prevent thousands flying

A departures screen shows all Qantas flights as cancelled in Melbourne. Photo / Getty Images

Qantas flights to and from New Zealand are running largely as usual, while airline strikes are stopping thousands of Australians from flying.

The airline stopped all domestic and international flights yesterday indefinitely and announced the lockout of all employees covered by the collective agreements currently in dispute.

Thousands of passengers have been left stranded across Australia.

Potentially two flights carrying Kiwi passengers have been cancelled, said Auckland Airport spokesperson Richard Lewellyn.

He said a flight due to arrive in Auckland at 9.10am this morning from Los Angeles had been cancelled, and was unsure if tomorrow's flight on the same route would be cancelled.

He understood a second flight, originating from Sydney and passing through Auckland, had also been cancelled but said there were no clear details.

Mr Lewellyn said all other transtasman flights running under the Qantas banner remain as usual, as Auckland-based Jetconnect runs the flights under the Qantas brand.

Only the international flight, the Auckland to LA flight, was affected by the disputes.

EPMU aviation national industry organiser Strachan Crang said the lockout was affecting Air New Zealand flights that had landed in Australia.

Qantas provides baggage handling for incoming Air New Zealand flights, and the kiwi company was having to make do with non-union and temporary staff, he said.

The union also covers up to 40 New Zealand-based Qantas workers, who were largely unaffected by the strike, he said.

The Australian Government has requested emergency negotiations today to make progress on the failing talks.

Discussions between Qantas and Fair Work Australia will resume in Melbourne at 2pm (Australian time) today, after months of industrial action by three unions came to a head yesterday.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce told Sky News on Sunday a termination of industrial action from the airline's unions was needed to get the fleet back in the air.

He said a suspension was not enough to get planes back up and flying, as the option lacked certainty.

If a termination was ordered, Mr Joyce said the airline needed to go through a process with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), which could take a few hours.

It could take another six hours to get the fleet flying after the approval was given, he said.