Australian airline Qantas resumed flights on Monday after the government stepped in to help end the nation's worst labour dispute in a decade.
Nearly 70,000 passengers were stranded over the weekend, when the airline grounded its entire fleet.
The company's CEO Alan Joyce apologised to passengers for the disruption.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) QANTAS CEO, ALAN JOYCE, SAYING:
"Again, I want to apologise to our customers. We very much regret the inconvenience and stress that has been caused by this action. We will be doing all that we can to put things right. And my message today is that all of our customers now can book with confidence with the airline going forward, because all industrial action now ceases."
A ruling by Australia's labour tribunal ordered Qantas to resume flights, and banned trade unions from staging any more strikes. The ruling gives both sides 21 days to settle the dispute.
Qantas' decision to halt flights was considered a bold move and one that left government officials scrambling to find a solution.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER JULIA GILLARD SAYING:
(That is, by going to Fair Work Australia, we have achieved what we set out to do. Planes will be back in the skies. Qantas workers will be back at work. We wanted to end all industrial action because we were very concerned about the circumstances that had left Australians stranded. )
As Prime Minister, and the government overall, was concerned about the extreme action taken by Qantas that had stranded tens of thousands of passengers far away from home. We wanted to make sure those passengers could get flights, and were able to return home. We wanted to see this industrial action at an end."
By mid-day Qantas shares were up as much as seven point four percent on the news of the intervention.
Julie Noce, Reuters