QANTAS Airways (Sydney) as of 1700 (5 p.m.) Sydney time today (October 29) (0600 GMT) is shutting down. All QANTAS domestic and international flights will cease operations with all aircraft en route grounded indefinitely at the completion of their current sectors.

CEO Alan Joyce said the airline could not operate with the current union industrial action (from pilots, ground handling agents and engineers-mechanics) raging against the airline. All members of the unions will be locked out of the workplace from 2000 (8 p.m.) Sydney time on Monday (October 31).

Jetstar Airways, QANTAS Link, Australian Air Express, Atlas Air operated freighters and New Zealand flights operated by JetConnect are not affected by the shutdown.

The Australian government has stated it will not be drawn into the labor dispute. However this action will have tremendous unfortunate ramifications for Australia.

QANTAS has issued the following statement:

“QANTAS will stop all domestic and international flights from 5 p.m. (AEDT) on Saturday October 29 until further notice. This is in response to the damaging industrial action by three unions – the Australian Licenced Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA), the Australian International Pilots Association (AIPA) and the Transport Workers Union (TWU).

QANTAS Link, Jetstar Airways, JetConnect services, and our freight services (Express Freighters Australia and Atlas Air) will continue to operate as normal.

QANTAS is providing a full refund for any flights cancelled due to the industrial action. Customers can also rebook their flights for a later date.

Customers are advised not to travel to the airport unless they are travelling on a QANTAS Link , Jetstar Airways or JetConnect flight and are urged to reconsider any non-urgent travel and defer their travel plans wherever possible.

If your flight number falls within the range QF 1400 – 2699 you are travelling with QANTAS Link and your flight is not affected by the grounding so you should travel to the airport as normal.

QANTAS codeshares with a number of airlines, these carriers are continuing their operations as scheduled. These flights have both QANTAS and alternative carrier flight numbers eg. QF319 and BA16.

Please be patient while Flight Status is updated on qantas.com.

Due to the significant nature of this disruption and the uncertainty as to how long the grounding will last, we are only able to manage customer bookings on a day-by-day basis.”

Copyright Photo: John Adlard. All flights are pictured returning to the gates at SYD on October 29.

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