Regional airline travellers in Western Australia may be in for more flight pain as pilots working at a Qantas subsidiary set a date for more industrial action.

February 20, 2024

Thousands of regional airline passengers and fly-in, fly-out workers face more disruptive flight cancellations as pilots employed by a Qantas subsidiary vow to extend industrial action.

More than 200 Network Aviation and QantasLink pilots in Western Australia walked off the job for six days last week, forcing the cancellation of dozens of flights.

The Australian Federation of Air Pilots on Tuesday said the pilots would strike again on Thursday for four days.

It’s the fourth time Network Aviation pilots have taken industrial action over the pay dispute in recent months, amid accusations Qantas Group is refusing to negotiate and has taken previously agreed terms off the bargaining table.

The federation also said Network Aviation pilots were fed up with being treated as second-class citizens by Qantas Group and don’t get the same pay conditions as other pilots employed by the airline despite doing the same job.

“Qantas can readily resolve this by recognising that Network pilots are only seeking to achieve terms and conditions of employment that are commonplace amongst the Qantas pilots and the airline industry overall,” senior industrial officer Chris Aikens said in a statement.

Qantas has denied the allegations and said it had not walked away and had been actively negotiating with the pilots’ union for 18 months.

The airline said it had made three wage offers, including pay increases of more than 25 per cent, plus yearly three per cent increases, new allowances and greater roster protections.

It said the union supported two of the offers but they were voted down by the pilot group, and the parties were now at an impasse.

The union has rejected these assertions and said the 25 per cent offer was only made to some pilots who were being paid below the award rate, and the increases most pilots would receive under the proposed deals would not keep up with the inflation rate.

Last week’s strike forced the airline to cancel and reschedule dozens of flights on Wednesday and Thursday, prompting mining companies to use other carriers and restrict travel for their workers.

The impact on travellers was less on Friday, with nine flights cancelled and 97 per cent of passengers expected to be rescheduled onto other services on the same day.

Most weekend flights were unaffected, according to the airline.

Qantas Group said it would again use the airline’s Boeing 737 aircraft and charter planes from other airlines to fly customers to their destinations on rescheduled flights during the coming industrial action.

It said further contingency plans were being worked out but it was confident most Network Aviation customers would be able to travel on the same day they were initially booked to fly on.

The airline has applied to the Fair Work Commission for a hearing to determine whether the parties have reached a stage where an outcome cannot be negotiated.