Qantas says it didn’t have to pay pilots, even if it saved money

afr.com:

Qantas saved about $80,000 in training costs for every pilot who missed out on a promotion when the airline last hired externally, but refused to compensate those who it wanted to pass over when it restarted operations after the pandemic.

The airline has taken legal action against the Australian International Pilots Association for insisting it compensate 20 pilots in return for agreement to Qantas’ request that it be allowed to allocate second officers directly to its A380 aircraft.

Pilots say Qantas was saving considerable money but wouldn’t pay up. iStock

Under cross-examination in the Federal Court in Sydney on Wednesday, Qantas’ head of base operations Douglas Alley agreed with AIPA’s barrister Ian Neil SC that the airline had saved around $80,000 a year by directly allocating pilots to its A330 fleet in 2016.

AIPA president captain Anthony Lucas said the 20 pilots would lose between $70,000 and $100,000 a year each. The association had calculated that Qantas would spend around $1.9 million a year compensating the pilots if it had used a provision in the enterprise agreement that involves “bypass” pay.

Mr Lucas also told the court that the pilots were open to reaching an agreement with Qantas and did not insist on the full amount as payment.

But barrister Matthew Follett representing Qantas said AIPA had not negotiated bypass pay as part of the clause the airline relied upon to make the request, which states that the association could not “unreasonably” refuse if there were operational difficulties.

Qantas contends the association unreasonably withheld its approval when it pressed for compensation on behalf of its pilots, given the operational difficulties it faced due to the pandemic.

“We didn’t believe that we