Qantas to ground more aircraft

Qantas will ground another two aircraft and cancel a further 80 domestic flights over the next month in response to industrial action.

Qantas said on Tuesday that two Boeing 767 aircraft would be grounded from Monday, which would cause the cancellation of 80 flights, mainly between the eastern states and Perth.

That takes the number of aircraft taken out of service by Qantas to seven, and the number of flights cancelled as a result to about 500, the airline said.

A ban on overtime by the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) had forced the grounding of the aircraft, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said.

'The ongoing action from the licensed aircraft maintenance engineers union means we do not have the manpower to fulfil all of the necessary maintenance on our fleet of aircraft,' Mr Joyce said in a statement on Tuesday.

'If this overtime ban continues, we will be grounding even more aircraft.'

He said the bans were not affecting safety but were causing 'ongoing and unplanned disruption'.

'This is impacting our passengers holiday and business travel plans and it is impacting on the tourism industry,' he said.

He denied claims by the union that aircraft were already going to be grounded due to a lack of spare parts.

'These aircraft are flying this week and from Monday they won't be,' he said.

'When we clear the backlog of maintenance then the aircraft will be put back into service - it's as simple as that,' he said.

Comment was being sought from the union.

ALAEA spokesman Steve Purvinas said Qantas had planned months ago to ground the planes.

'Maybe he should have removed the internal Qantas paperwork that said that they were grounded for disposal ... they announced in April that these aircraft were going to be sold,' Mr Purvinas told AAP on Tuesday.

'Alan Joyce is full of lies and the sooner he starts being honest with the employees, the public and the shareholders, the quicker Qantas will get back on track.'

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