Qantas argues 'external events' forced them to stand down 450 maintenance engineers in mid-March because of coronavirus as the airline is taken to court by workers challenging the move.
Qantas was eight weeks away from running out of money at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, a Sydney court has heard.The barrister representing Qantas says "external events" caused a stoppage of workThe Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association has taken the airline to the Federal Court, challenging the legality of standing down about 450 Qantas and Jetstar maintenance engineers.
Barrister Rowena Orr QC, for the airline, said the pandemic and the measures taken by governments to control its impacts were not foreseeable. "The alternative was to continue conducting flights with no, or very few, passengers in the hope that conditions for air travel would return to normal which, of course, has not proven to be the case," Ms Orr said.Read more about coronavirus:
According to the agreements, this may be done if the reason is a "stoppage of work through any cause for which Qantas cannot reasonably be held responsible", or in Jetstar's case, "by any cause which Jetstar cannot reasonably prevent".
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