Qantas intensify strike effects

In a bold move Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has announced that from Monday 17-October-2011 the airline will ground 5 aircraft and cancel 100 flights on 5 different routes as a counter measure to the ongoing strikes by members of the TWU, ALAEA and AIPA.

Yesterday Qantas was forced to cancel 14 flights and delayed 38 while members of the TWU took industrial action, and today will cancel 18 flights and delay a further 27 while members of the ALAEA take industrial action.

Mr Joyce said that by taking preemptive action and grounding aircraft, Qantas would reduce the impact on service reliability.
The 72 hours' notice unions are required to give means Qantas has been able to reschedule rather than cancel passengers.
Mr Joyce said that operations during yesterday's strike had achieved a 93 per cent on-time performance domestically and 100 per cent internationally.

Ground staff at Qantas group airline Jetstar, have also joined the campaign refusing to charge passengers excess baggage fees until 0330 tomorrow. (see HERE)

The "war" between the carrier and unions looks set to last for a while longer yet, with passengers set to suffer delays and cancellations unless they decide to book with rival Virgin Australia.

Read the many articles on the wires
CourierMail.com.au HERE
TheAustralian.com.au HERE HERE HERE HERE HERE & HERE
AustralianBusinessTraveller HERE HERE & HERE

QF engineers to enact rolling stoppages

Steve Creedy of theaustralian.com.au reports that ALAEA engineers have confirmed they will begin rolling 1 hour stoppages from next thursday until December 16th.

They will affect Brisbane line maintenance on Monday, Sydney domestic terminal on Tuesday, Adelaide line maintenance on Wednesday, Sydney Aircraft maintenance on Thursday and Melbourne line maintenance on Friday.

The report also mentions that Pilots are set to take a ballot next week which will open the way for protected industrial action to occur. SO Qantas could be in for a torrid time in the coming months.

Read the rest of the report HERE

Qantas face "tough" changes

Speaking at an aviation conference in Sydney, the CEO of Qantas Alan Joyce has said that the announcement next month by Qanats will begin a "phased by tough" change of the International division.

This of course lends weight to the rumours that QF are looking at a major offshore base somewhere in Asia, possibly China.

"Change is always tough," he said. "But the competitive challenges we face make major change essential and our commitment to the change process is absolute.

Read more from his speech from theaustralian.com.au HERE

Meanwhile the industrial action being taken by members of the ALPA, protesting this potential move to Asia and the effects it will have on job security, will involve small things like work to rule, stop work meetings, not complying with airline uniform policy and most noticeable by passengers, inflight announcements about the issues.  At this stage major strike action is not on the cards but this hasn't been ruled out.

Read more on the industrial action HERE