Qantas boss Alan Joyce and pilots in standoff on Sunrise flights deal

Alan Joyce warns he’ll walk away from proposed new flights if deal with pilots isn’t reached by year-end.

Strict timeline necessary to finalise the business case before new aircraft can be ordered. Picture: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Pilots have given their strongest indication yet they won’t agree to fly Qantas’s Project Sunrise flights if it means any reduction in their working conditions.

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce has said he wants to see pilots commit to similar productivity increases as they did before Boeing 787-9s were brought into the fleet.

That agreement generated a 30 per cent productivity gain with respect to pilot labour.

Speaking in Sydney on Wednesday, Mr Joyce warned he was prepared to walk away from the proposed new flights if a new deal with pilots could not be reached by the end of the year.

The strict timeline was necessary to finalise the business case before new aircraft were ordered, Mr Joyce said.

“We can’t put an order in for a new aircraft unless we know the business case is going to meet the thresholds,” he said.

“We are going to have a hard nose on this.”

The Australian and International Pilots Association had been reluctant to discuss negotiations publicly, but an update to members from president Mark Sedgwick suggested they too, were playing hardball.

He described the end-of-year deadline for an agreement with pilots as “extraordinarily ambitious”, particularly when an aircraft type had not been chosen.

Mr Sedgwick then went on to say pilots would not agree to any reduction in terms and conditions in a new agreement, and if that meant Qantas did not proceed with Project Sunrise, so be it.

“AIPA is comfortable that any discussions around future growth options may or may not lead to agreement and as such, the business may choose to invest its capital across other areas,” wrote Mr Sedgwick.

“We believe this would be an unfortunate outcome for the Qantas International business, but could represent the reality of operating an airline in a competitive aviation market.”

He said the agreement pilots reached to operate the Boeing 787-9s remained competitive on a global scale and provided enormous benefits to Qantas in terms of productivity.

“Our pilots have told us unequivocally that there is no desire to renegotiate these important changes,” Mr Sedgwick said.

The first test flight using a brand new Boeing 787-9, with only 40 people on board, will take place in a fortnight from New York to Sydney.

Four pilots will be used for the 18-hour flight. They will be fitted with special monitoring devices to check their alertness throughout the journey.

Mr Joyce said he will travel on the test flight as well as another next month from London to Sydney.