Jetstar strike: 120 domestic flights cancelled on Friday and weekend

Jetstar will cancel 120 domestic flights on Friday and over the weekend as the airline’s pilots, ground crew and baggage handlers take industrial action to demand a pay rise and better working conditions. Thirty flights will be cancelled on Friday, 44 on Saturday and 46 services on Sunday, and all passengers flying between 13 December and 20 December will be able to request a full refund. Other passengers will have their flights rescheduled, be moved to different planes or transferred to Qantas flights as the budget airline copes with protected industrial action from two different workers’ groups, after wage negotiations broke down. Jetstar said it expected 80% of flights to go ahead, and “95%” of customers will make it to their destination on the same day. International flights will only be “minimally” affected, it said. Two different groups of Jetstar employees are planning protected industrial action. Baggage handlers and ground crew, who are members of the Transport Workers Union, will be taking a series of two-hour work stoppages on Friday. Pilots, part of the Australian Federation of Air Pilots, will be taking action on Saturday and Sunday. This will involve four-hour work stoppages on both days.<br/>