CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Qantas Airways grounded its global fleet Saturday, suddenly locking out striking workers after weeks of disruptions an executive said could close down the world's 10th largest airline piece by piece.

Australia's government called an emergency arbitration hearing that lasted nearly two hours before the judges adjourned it to issue a decision later Saturday night.

At least 60 Qantas flights were in the air and continued to their destinations, and at least one taxiing flight stopped on the runway, a flier said. Among the stranded passengers are the 17 world leaders attending a Commonwealth summit in the western city of Perth.

When the grounding was announced, 36 international and 28 domestic Australian flights were in the air, said a Qantas spokeswoman, who declined to be named citing company policy.

She could not confirm an Australian Broadcasting Corp. television report that 13,305 passengers were booked to fly Qantas international flights within 24 hours of the grounding.

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Qantas infuriated unions in August when it said it would improve its loss-making overseas business by creating an Asia-based airline with its own name and brand. The five-year restructure plan will cost 1,000 jobs.

Qantas announced in August that it had more than doubled annual profit to AU$250 million, but warned the business environment was too challenging to forecast earnings for the current fiscal year.

Read more here: http://www.chron.com/news/article/Qantas-Airways-grounds-global-fleet-due-to-strikes-2242309.php

Qantas resumes flights after labor board orders end to dispute with unions

Sydney (CNN) -- Australia's Qantas Airways resumed flights Monday after a government labor board ordered it to end a dispute with its unions that grounded the airline over the weekend.

"Qantas can confirm that all domestic and international services have resumed from mid-afternoon on Monday 31 October," the airline's website said. "We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and stress our customers have faced over the past days and months."

The first planes to depart were an international flight from Sydney to Jakarta and a domestic route from Melbourne to Sydney.

Some 100,000 passengers were impacted by the groundings, said Kira Reed, an airline representative.

Labor relations tribunal Fair Work Australia ordered an end to the labor dispute "to avoid significant damage to the tourism industry" after Qantas grounded its jets Saturday afternoon.

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The dispute with the unions has dragged on for 14 months, the labor board said.

Qantas argued that the unions' demands would leave the airline "seriously impaired or destroyed."

The labor board gave the two sides three weeks to reach an agreement, with a possible three-week extension if talks were making progress.

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Read more here: http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/31/travel/australia-qantas/index.html?hpt=hp_t2