Dubai – Qantas flights – July 30, 2014

TWU national secretary Tony Sheldon has also urged the federal government to step in and order airlines to change routes that are putting passengers’ lives at risk.

Mr Sheldon said airlines are putting profit ahead of passenger safety and airport workers could stop work over the issue.

The union, which covers aircraft refuellers, baggage handlers, ramp handlers and catering staff at our international airports, has stepped into the controversy a day after it was reported Qantas has no plans to alter its twice daily flights over a war torn section of northern Iraq.

The Daily Telegraph reported yesterday that Qantas pilots fear the Airbus A380 aircraft flying the QF2 route between Dubai and London, are vulnerable to surface-to-air missiles fired by Islamic militants.

One veteran A380 captain said pilots can see groundfire below them as they fly near the city of Mosul and want the airline to re-route the flights over Egypt.

But in a statement issued late today Qantas chief pilot Captain Dick Tobiano said that the airline did not compromise passenger safety.

“We would never fly over an area if we thought it was unsafe,” the statement said.

“That’s why we no longer fly over Syria or the Ukraine.

“Qantas always puts safety first.

“In 2011, when other airlines continued to fly during the Chilean ash cloud, Qantas took a conservative approach and cancelled hundreds of flights in the affected areas at a significant cost to the airline.

“We also immediately grounded our A380 fleet after our QF32 incident in 2010.

Qantas’ international partner Emirates said it will begin re-routing its flights away from Iraq some time next week.

But other airlines including British Airways, Lufthansa and Etihad, as well as Qantas, are still flying over northern Iraq.

Mr Sheldon said the government must try to prevent airlines “throwing the dice” and continuing to fly over war zones.