Qantas Airways has rejected suggestions that it allowed negotiations with union officials to be bogged down by deliberate delays in order to secure intervention from Fair Work Australia (FWA).

Without acting on union leaders' request for a 21-day extension of industrial discussions, the possible deal between Qantas and its workers' alliances expired on Monday, paving the way for FWA to step in and arbitrate the matter.

Unlike the earlier set up, in which both Qantas and three company unions can tweak the negotiations to their respective advantages, FWA rulings will now be forced on both entities in resolving the labour dispute, experts said.

Such eventuality appears to be a welcome scenario for Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce, who told ABC on Tuesday morning that the airline management has been angling for a final resolution of the industrial problem, which led to the company grounding its entire fleet in late October.

"Nobody should be scared of an independent umpire, but we're going into this to let the independent umpire decide and willing to accept whatever they come out with," Joyce was reported by ABC as saying.

"We've not been scared of the arbitrator. I don't think the unions should be scared of the arbitrator, unless their demands are so outrageous that the arbitrator's not going to agree to them," the Qantas chief added.

While Qantas is harping about its intent to settle the issue as quickly as possible, Mick Pieri of the Transport Workers Union claimed that Joyce had been wanting all along for FWA to enter the picture instead of striking a deal internally.

"I don't believe that they've negotiated in reality in good faith. They've dragged it, they've dragged it, this whole negotiation, and here we are going to arbitration," Pieri told ABC in expressing his group's take on Qantas tactics.

The union official added that it would have made a great big of difference had Qantas opted to negotiate more and allowed another 21 says to arrive at a deal instead of allowing for the arbitration to proceed, which he added, Joyce seems to prefer.

On his part, the Qantas CEO appears confident on getting a favourable, if not a fair deal, from FWA following months of frustrating talks and even challenged union officials to abide by the independent umpire decision.

"We call on all the unions ... not to challenge this in the Federal Court, to respect the binding arbitration of the independent umpire," Joyce said referring to the arbitration that hopes will put an end to the labour dispute.