More Qantas union staff strikes ahead on Thursday, Friday

UPDATE | Qantas has issued a new timetable starting Monday October 17 which sees 110 flights per week cancelled due to ongoing industrial action. For a complete list of all cancelled flights, click here.

PREVIOUS | Following hard on the heels of the Customs staff strikes starting Tuesday, Qantas passengers will also be disrupted by further strikes by the Transport Workers Union (TWU) on Thursday 29 and Friday 30 September.

A smaller two-hour stop work by 50 TWU delegates will take place on Thursday, while 3,800 baggage handlers, ground staff and other Qantas employees will strike for an hour on Friday.

Qantas executive Olivia Wirth admitted that over 20,000 passengers had been delayed or had their journeys disrupted so far by the strikes.

Last week flights were cancelled and delayed by aircraft maintenance engineers on strike.

The TWU last held a wider strike on 20 September, with around 30 flights cancelled as a result. 

And more strikes are planned in October, with the engineers' union's Steve Purvinas advising Qantas passengers not to buy a ticket from October 10.

Australian Business Traveller will continue to monitor the situation and bring you the very latest, here and on Twitter: @AusBT.

John Walton

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.