Qantas Strikes: 10,000 Passengers to be Hit

The goings are getting tougher for Qantas Airways!

Australia’s flag carrier is forced to cancel as many as 70 flights as the airline’s ground staff go off work at different airports all over the country.

Flight cancellations are going to impact 10,000 passengers on Friday, as per Qantas Airways. Past few months have been tumultuous for the airline with some 70,000 passengers getting hit with a string of strikes that erupted in the period. Budget travellers who make advance bookings to net cheap flight tickets are the unhappiest lot as Qantas is not exactly known to roll out cheap flight tickets pretty often!

In the past few months, Qantas Airways has been struggling to keep different unions happy. Unions representing aircraft pilots, mechanics, baggage handlers and caterers have cast apprehensions regarding the airline’s plans to move jobs offshore. Better pay and work conditions are some issues raised by the unions. If one takes into account different strikes that have jolted the airline in past few months, then it is estimated that some 70,000 passengers have been affected by the flight delays and cancellations.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has urged the unions to be “more realistic” while putting their demands. He insisted the unions to think of the jobs they're endangering around the country. Alan Joyce also apologised to the travellers who have been impacted by the series of strikes.

Qantas is said to have lost A$68 million so far, with additional loss of A$15 million per week in revenues.