Qantas grounds all flights amid labour dispute

Australian airline Qantas has grounded all of its flights with immediate effect owing to an industrial dispute.

The airline’s management has been locked in a bitter row with trade unions over plans to restructure the company.

Baggage handlers, engineers and pilots have been involved in a series of strikes since September.

“If the action continues as the unions have promised, we will have no choice but to close down Qantas part by part,” its chief executive Alan Joyce told reporters.

Qantas says the industrial action has already cost 68 million Australian dollars (51 million euros) this year.

Unions have accused Joyce of “straight-up blackmail.”

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