Long-haul pilots of Qantas have promised no strikes if the union would succeed in its appeal on Fair Work Australia's (FWA) ruling a few months ago to prohibit industrial action. The union will file its case against the FWA termination of the pilots' industrial action before the Federal Court in Sydney.

The union's appeal is a back-up plan for the pilots if FWA rules in favour of Qantas in the arbitration case being handled by the agency. In filing the appeal, the Australian and International Pilots' Association (AIPA) argued that FWA went beyond its power in including the union in its decision to end the labor row between Qantas and three unions representing the pilots, aircraft engineers and ground crew. AIPA stressed that it did not participate in disruptive industrial action in 2011 against Qantas which grounded its fleet for two days in October.

"AIPA made it clear throughout 2011 that our struggle was against damaging management policy and not loyal Qantas passengers. That is why we did not take stop-work action last year, and that's why we will not take stop-work action this year either, even if we win this case," AIPA Vice President Richard Woodward said in a statement.

He pointed out that rather than walk off their jobs, the pilots showed their disagreement with Qantas policies by making in-flight announcements about their concerns and wearing red ties instead of the black one issued by the air carrier.

Mr Woodward insisted that these actions did not affect the Australian economy in any way which is the reason why AIPA is questioning the FWA's decision to terminate their action.

"We believe this is a vital principle to fight for. Just because (the Qantas Chief Executive Alan) Joyce chose the nuclear option does not mean that our legitimate and legal campaign should have been ended too," Mr Woodward added.

Qantas had already settled with the aircraft engineers, who also agreed to three years of industrial peace. However, the embattled air carrier - which registered an 82 per cent decline in profit in the last six months due to the labour dispute - is still negotiating with the Transport Workers Union, which represents the ground crew - under the FWA's binding arbitration.

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