Quantas grounds all flights over jobs row

Link to the article at Channel 4 News

All 108 Qantas aircraft have been grounded indefinitely and staff are to be locked out, as the company responds to recent strikes over proposals to move jobs overseas.



The airline issued a statement this morning saying that all its domestic and international flights will be stopped until further notice. Flights in transit would continue to their destination, but all other flights would be stopped from taking off.

The company say it will lock-out staff from Monday morning until three unions behind recent industrial action move to "drop their extreme demands".

Qantas staff have been striking over infrastructure changes and proposals to move some operations to Asia.

Tens of thousands of passengers will be hit and the lock-out will cost the company an estimated $20m per day.

The airline is offering full refunds to any customers that are hit by the strike and has promised them flights at a later stage - although there is no indication at this time when flights will resume.