Hundreds of Qantas passengers stranded at Heathrow
30.10.11
Several hundred passengers have been unable to depart on scheduled flights for Australia after four Qantas flights from Heathrow Airport were cancelled when the airline grounded all flights yesterday in a labour row. Many arrived at Heathrow unaware Qantas had grounded its fleet and had to return home, go to other airlines' desks looking for flights, or stay at an airport hotel paid for by the airline.
Qantas has said that 13,305 passengers were booked to travel on its planes to Australia from overseas in the 24 hours after the grounding began, with a further 55,000 due to take flights from or within Australia. The airline announced yesterday it would ground all of its 108 planes indefinitely at 22 airports around the world and would lock out staff from tomorrow until unions representing pilots, engineers, ground and catering staff reach an agreement with the airline over pay and conditions after months of strikes had cost it around £10m a day.
An emergency hearing in Melbourne yesterday by 'industrial umpire' Fair Work Australia failed to resolve the dispute. The tribunal will sit again at 14:00 today, with both Qantas and the federal government requesting that industrial action be terminated. The Australian prime minister said she was concerned about damage that could be caused to the national economy.
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