Qantas has sued the Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA) accusing the pilot union of blocking external hires to fly the Airbus A380.
The airline filed the case against the union on April 26, 2023. The hearing is scheduled for May 26, 2023. The dispute between the airline and pilot association is about disagreement between promotions to fly the Airbus A380. The airline wants to recruit external pilots to fly the A380s while the association argues that internal pilots should be promoted to fill the larger roles. AIPA has argued that this would break a 50-year-old tradition of the airline promoting internal pilots.
Qantas has argued that the airline is already at capacity in terms of pilot training and it intends to make best use of the resources and train as many pilots as it can.
During the COVID-19 pandemic Qantas put its Airbus A380s into long-term storage. With the travel recovery the airline brought back the A380s from storage starting January 2022. Currently, out of 10 aircraft of the type, the Australian airline operates seven Airbus A380s. The remaining three are currently undergoing maintenance and due to join the fleet soon.