The airline says it was not an official order and an employee has been told never to make the same mistake again.

Qantas has been ordered to pay $90m in penalties – including $50m to the Transport Workers Union – after it unlawfully sacked more than 1800 ground staff, with the union saying the airline had been “smashed”.

Un juez multó el lunes a Qantas Airways con 90 millones de dólares australianos (59 millones de dólares) por despedir ilegalmente a más de

The $90m penalty imposed on Qantas for its illegal outsourcing of ground crews is unlikely to trouble the airline financially, with savings already made from the decision eclipsing the cost of the long-running court ordeal.

The judge’s ruling is an important signal to unions in pursuing other employers who may breach the Fair Work Act.

The weekly 737 flights, which depart Brisbane on Saturdays and return from Koror on Sundays, began in December last year, with Qantas taking over from Nauru Airlines under contract with the Australian Government.

Qantas' $90m outsourcing fine saw investors reduce its market value, but the fall was offset somewhat by a global rally in airline stocks. The rest of the local share market finished flat and the Aussie dollar went up a touch.

An Australian court has ruled that Qantas should pay fines of A$90 million ($59 million) due to an outsourcing move that was found to contravene labor laws. The Federal Court said A$50 million should be paid to the Transport Workers Union, and the ...