Regional travellers and fly-in fly-out workers could face delays in WA as pilots give notice of a full-day strike amid stalled pay negotiations.

February 5, 2024

Hundreds of pilots working for a Qantas subsidiary could strike over stalled wage negotiations and cause flight disruptions and cancellations for regional travellers and FIFO workers.

The Australian Federation of Air Pilots has given notice to Qantas Group that its members working for Network Aviation and QantasLink in Western Australia have voted to stop work on Thursday for 24 hours.

“We apologise for the disruptions this action will cause to the travelling public in WA, along with FIFO mining staff and other workers reliant on Network and QantasLink flights scheduled,” Senior Industrial Officer Chris Aikens said on Monday.

The pilot group has been negotiating an enterprise agreement with Qantas to replace their previous pay deal, which expired in 2020.

“The AFAP has been genuinely negotiating and trying to reach an agreement with Qantas management but the company remains unwilling to revisit its inflexible wages policy,” Mr Aikens said.

Network Aviation said it was disappointed with the decision and its recent wage proposals offered pilots significant pay rises and more days off.

“We’re working on plans to minimise disruption to our customers if the union does go ahead with industrial action,” a spokeswoman said.

Network Aviation pilots walked off the job over pay negotiations for 24 hours in early October causing more than 40 flights to and from regional towns and mine sites to be cancelled.

The airline, which is wholly owned by Qantas, is WA’s premier charter company for the mining industry.

It also employs local pilots for the carrier’s regional arm QantasLink.

More than 90 per cent of its 200-plus pilots are members of the pilots federation.

Network Aviation also flies private charters and emergency freight to and from WA, and operates hundreds of flights per week.