Qantas resumes flights after bitter labour row

Australia's Qantas re-launched passenger flights Monday, after a tribunal ordered an end to a destructive industrial dispute that grounded its fleet and sparked passenger and political fury.

The first Qantas commercial flight left Sydney for Jakarta with 88 passengers on board at 0441 GMT (12.41pm Singapore time), ending an extraordinary 46-hour shutdown that threatened to damage Australia's economy and the airline's brand.

"We have had over 10 flights take off now and we are hoping to clear the backlog of passengers in the next 24 to 48 hours," Qantas spokeswoman Sophia Connolly told AFP as the airline resumed limited service.

The shock grounding, announced Saturday by Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce, stranded 70,000 passengers in 22 cities worldwide, dramatically escalating a long-running feud with airline unions.

Source: Relax.com