More Qantas strikes today, Friday 28 October: 66 flights delayed
By John Walton, October 28 2011
Over 10,000 Qantas passengers will face more strikes today, Friday 28 October, with 66 flights delayed by up to 70 minutes due to continued industrial action by the Transport Workers' Union (TWU).
Members of the TWU – which includes baggage handlers, catering workers and ground staff – will walk off the job as Qantas holds its annual general meeting today.
The airline said in a statement that it "is finalising a new schedule and will contact passengers who face significant delays" during one-hour strikes.
A further Boeing 767, used on the airline's mainline capital-to-capital routes, will also be grounded due to maintenance backlogs.
A smaller Boeing 737 will be returned to service, however. "While our Boeing 737 fleet health is improving, the health and reliability of the B767s continues to be affected by the cumulative effects of months of union action," Qantas executive Lyell Strambi said.
Will your travel insurance cover further Qantas strikes? You may want to read the fine print of your policy.
Aviation journalist and travel columnist John took his first long-haul flight when he was eight weeks old and hasn't looked back since. Well, except when facing rearwards in business class.
28 Oct 2011
Total posts 1
If Qantas has lost $68M it goes without saying that others are being affected. How much have other companies lost due to the Union Strikes I wonder?
John, I would be interested to see a story along those lines and see the true story on how the Union strikes are effecting businesses in Australia?
I certainly hope it doesn't destroy the company - firstly as I couldn't stand to hear the whinging and complaining of the jobless union members (sick of them already), and secondly as there would be no competition to maintain competitive pricing. A scarey though remembering back to the 'old' days.
03 Jan 2011
Total posts 665
As an ex-economist I'd love to pick apart someone else's numbers on the impacts...and would hate to have to be the economist to publicly put those together! Let me know if someone else has a stab. My back-of-envelope calculations are pretty interesting, but I'm really unsure of the numbers..
17 Nov 2011
Total posts 1
hi i was wondering why qantas had their strike??
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