Qantas vows strikes will not delay flights during school holidays peak

The Qantas Engineers' Alliance commenced industrial action on the morning of Thursday, September 26, in Melbourne, with further action expected to roll out over the next two weeks at all major airports.

The alliance said flights would likely be disrupted.

The alliance is calling for wage increases, claiming engineers have had their skills devalued by the airline and their wages have gone backwards over the past decade.

A Qantas spokesperson said they were able to work around the strikes and didn't expect they would disrupt customers.

"We're putting contingencies in place and don't currently expect this industrial action to have an impact on customers," the spokesperson said.

"We've held a series of meetings with the unions and made progress on a number of items. We want to reach an agreement that includes pay rises and ensures we have a sustainable business."

However, due to weather in Sydney, Airservices Australia has a ground delay program in place on Thursday, affecting all airlines, and has caused some cancellations across the network.

The wage claim made by the Alliance is for 5 per cent per year, and a 15 per cent first-year payment to make up for 3.5 years of wage stagnation.

The alliance is made up of workers who are members of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, the Australian Workers Union and the Electrical Trades Union.

AMWU national secretary Steve Murphy said Qantas workers felt "undervalued, underpaid and underappreciated".

"If you've had a bad Qantas experience, well that's nothing compared to how Qantas makes their workers feel every day," Mr Murphy said.

"Our highly skilled members deserve fair wages for the incredible work they do to keep us all safe in the air."

The employees taking part in this round of industrial action are Qantas aircraft maintenance engineers (AMEs). There are around 1100 employees covered by these agreements, out of 2,500 engineers across Qantas.

The strikes come as Victorians are well into their first week of school holidays and NSW schools are about to begin holidays.

Sydney Airport is expecting 2.5 million passengers during the three-week September school holiday peak, seven per cent more than the same period in 2023

The airport expects 1.5 million domestic and 1 million international passengers will come through its doors during the period.

The busiest day for domestic travel is set to be Friday, September 27, with an expected 52,000 passengers, while Friday, October 4 is forecast to be the busiest day for international travel with more than 130,000 passengers set to travel through the airport.