Qantas Airways has struck a deal with its pilots over staffing of its long-planned non-stop flights to Europe and North America from Sydney and Melbourne, although the current crisis may threaten or even further delay the plans.
The airline and pilots had been at odds over how many captains, first officers and second officers would be needed aboard to operate the flights, which would involve nearly 24 hours of crew time from reporting to post-flight checkout.
The dispute, and the current airline crisis, have delayed a final decision on the project, for which Qantas has made a preliminary deal for up to a dozen super-longrange variants of the Airbus A350-1000, with a start date for service in 2022 or 2023. But how long airlines take to recover from the current crisis may push those dates again.
