Qantas is threatening to draft pilots from a Chinese airline to fly non-stop from Australia to New York and London as it battles militant strike action.
The flying kangaroo carrier last year successfully trialled three 19-hour flights direct to Sydney from the United States and the UK.
It wants to offer non-stop flights from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to New York and London on board new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.
However, the Australian and International Pilots Association is opposed to the current plan, known as Project Sunrise, arguing there are fatigue risks with that kind of long-haul flight.
Qantas is threatening to draft pilots living overseas to fly non-stop from Australia to New York and London as the airline battles strike action. Chief executive Alan Joyce (right with pilot Lisa Norman) has hinted retrenched China Southern pilots could be recruited as the Australian and International Pilots Association objects to the current plan
Qantas is now threatening to hire new pilots living overseas if the pilots’ union fails to agree with its plan – a day after ground and cabin crew at its budget carrier subsidiary Jetstar went on a 24-hour strike, forcing the cancellation of 48 domestic flights.
The airline’s chief executive Alan Joyce has stepped up his threat, highlighting how a retrenched China Southern Airlines captain had offered his services for the non-stop flights to New York and London.
‘In the last few days, I had a note from an Australian captain who worked in China who said there’s hundreds of Australians that have been laid off by the Chinese airlines that are very keen to come home, very experienced pilots, that are keen to come home and are very keen to do Sunrise,’ he told reporters on Thursday.
‘We don’t want to go down that path, we do want to do a deal with our pilots and I’m optimistic we will get a deal with our pilots.’
AIPA president Mark Sedgwick said the hiring of foreign pilots would damage the airline’s reputation for safety.
‘We have warned Qantas that recruitment of an external workforce risks damaging pilot engagement and would potentially damage the airline for many years to come,’ he said.
The pilots’ union accused Qantas of proposing inflexible productivity targets.
‘Our members have the skills to safely fly ultra long-range routes and we see no need for the airline to engage another workforce,’ Mr Sedgwick said.
The flying kangaroo airline last year successfully trialled three, 19-hour flights direct to Sydney from London (Big Ben, left) and New York (right)
Qantas is facing an industrial relations battle on another front with 200 Jetstar ground and cabin crew this week embarking on a 24-hour strike that caused 48 flights to be grounded.
The Transports Workers Union is rejecting Jetstar’s offer of a three per cent annual pay rise over four years, backdated to March 2019 when the last enterprise bargaining agreement expired.
Instead, it wants a four per cent-a-year increase and a guarantee of more hours as part of an EBA that would run until March 2023.
While that is significantly higher than the 2.2 per cent pay rise for Australian workers last year, the TWU argued the 2016 pay freeze had squeezed their earnings.
Qantas is facing an industrial relations battle on another front with 200 Jetstar ground and cabin crew this week embarking on a 24-hour strike that caused 48 flights to be grounded. Pictured are Jetstar workers at Sydney domestic airport
Mr Joyce, who famously ground the entire Qantas fleet in 2011 over an industrial dispute, was unmoved with Jetstar staff due to hold an enterprise bargaining agreement vote on Monday.
‘No amount of industrial action will change our position,’ he said.
‘We won’t risk the future of the company; we won’t risk future jobs by giving outrageous pay increases.’
TWU national secretary Michael Kaine said most Jetstar staff were struggling to pay their bills.
‘This is not a pay dispute. This is a battle against underemployment and for decent jobs at the airport,’ he said.
Qantas told the Australian Securities Exchange the coronavirus could wipe $100million to $150million from its underlying earnings, as it confirmed flights from Sydney to Shanghai (airport pictured) would remain suspended until at least the end of May
‘Jetstar say they are offering a three per cent pay rise but three per cent of not very many hours, is not very much.
‘Workers want an increase in the guaranteed number of hours that workers get.’
Qantas made a statutory profit after tax of $445million in the six months to December 31, which was 3.9 per cent weaker compared with the same period in 2018.
The 100-year-old airline also told the Australian Securities Exchange the coronavirus could wipe $100million to $150million from its underlying earnings, as it confirmed flights from Sydney to Shanghai would remain suspended until at least the end of May.