Qantas flights back on schedule after chaos

Qantas, the world’s 10th-largest airline, said all flights were operating on time and as scheduled, with the remaining backlog of passengers affected by the two-day grounding expected to be cleared.

The airline grounded its fleet on Saturday in response to months of strikes by unions representing pilots, aircraft mechanics, baggage handlers and caterers. The move threw the travel plans of tens of thousands of passengers into disarray, and prompted the government to order an emergency court hearing.

On Monday, an arbitration court ordered an end to the strikes, which had forced the cancellation of 600 flights in recent months, disrupted travel for 70,000 customers and cost Qantas $Aus70m (£46.2m). The court also cancelled a staff lockout, and the airline began flying again about 12 hours later.

The court gave the airline and unions 21 days to reach an agreement. If no deal is reached by then, they will be forced into mandatory arbitration.

“The question is whether the parties can now act in a mature way,” Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said. “We’ve called upon both Qantas and the unions to get down to business and to get this deal done.”

Qantas enraged union workers in August when it said it would create a separate Asia-based airline with its own name and brand at a cost of 1,000 existing jobs despite more than doubling annual profits to $Aus250m (£164.8m).