Naomi Neilson

The Flying Kangaroo now says the disruption later caused by the Delta strain of COVID-19 would have meant it would have had no choice but to let 1,700 ground handlers go anyway after they were made redundant earlier in the pandemic.

Counsel James Hutton SC, acting for administrator Hall Chadwick, also said there is “still a degree of uncertainty” as to whether the carrier can meet existing contractual obligations and added it had “not had time to fully investigate” the termination of Bonza’s leases.

The Federal Court heard the last of the witness evidence on Friday (22 March) but lingering questions about the “counterfactual world”, in which the sackings never occurred, has pushed the timeline back.

Qantas executives, including then-executive manager of Qantas airports, Colin Hughes, met with lawyers from Herbert Smith Freehills and an industrial relations expert in early June 2020 to discuss the decision to terminate the ground handling staff.

Counsel for Qantas, Richard Dalton KC, said even in a world where the illegal sackings never occurred, the executive team would have still considered outsourcing its ground handling operations.

Compensation hearings began in the Federal Court on Monday morning (18 March) to determine how much 1,700 ground staff are entitled to for being illegally terminated in November 2020.