Qantas and budget carrier Jetstar have won a court case launched by a union after ordering aircraft engineers to stop work without pay amid the COVID-19 crisis.
From late March and early April, the struggling airlines stood down hundreds of maintenance staff along with about 20,000 other employees including pilots and cabin crew.
After the COVID-19 fallout both companies experienced huge reductions in passengers, with Qantas eventually suspending international flights because of government restrictions on travel.
Qantas baggage handlers and ground staff (pictured) who were stood down along with engineers hold a protest in the Qantas domestic terminal in Sydney, in August 2020
Two years ago, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce (pictured) was the highest paid chief executive in Australia but has voluntarily suspended his salary
International travel was banned by the federal government in March to halt the spread of coronavirus with returning travelers required to undergo a 14-day hotel quarantine.
An application to the Fair Work Commission was made by the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association in March disputing the airline's decision to stand down the maintenance staff without pay.
The union argued it was a business decision in response to 'actual and projected downturn in trade', and was an event within the airlines' control.
'It is a stoppage arising from a voluntary change in business operations, not a matter entirely out of the airlines' hands,' the court was told.
But the Qantas Group, which includes Jetstar, said it had already explored and implemented every other cost-saving measure, such as ceasing payments for rent, and these were not sufficient.
On Tuesday Justice Geoffrey Flick ruled the 'stoppage of work for both Qantas and Jetstar ... was one for which Qantas could not reasonably be held responsible and one which Jetstar could not reasonably prevent'.
'Given the substantial downturn in passenger flights, there was no other option 'reasonably' open for Qantas or Jetstar to pursue,' he said.
He ruled the licensed engineers could not be 'usefully employed' during the stand-down period, and the airlines were pursuing a course 'of ensuring their very economic survival'.
The total wage bill for Qantas aircraft maintenance workers at the time was about $3.8million a week, and for Jetstar, about $500,000 a week.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic Qantas and Jetstar will reportedly continue to run at a loss for the 2020/21 financial year.
Two years ago, CEO Alan Joyce was the highest paid chief executive in Australia, according to the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors.
Joyce's total pay was $1.7million in the most recent financial year, down from $9.9million a year earlier, Qantas said in a recent statement after Joyce opted not to receive shares and volunteered to not receive his salary for part of 2020.
A boeing 747 undergoing maintenance work at the Qantas Jet Base in Sydney (pictured)