SYDNEY, Australia --
Qantas canceled six flights Monday between Australia's two largest cities and prepared for broader turmoil, as engineers launched strikes against the national carrier in a pay dispute.
The strikes currently affect only domestic Australian flights.
The engineers union planned rolling strikes in several cities Monday and Tuesday to pressure Qantas Airways Ltd.
Six of the carrier's flights from Sydney and Melbourne were canceled Monday, and another 18 flights in those cities as well as Brisbane and Cairns would be canceled on Tuesday, the airline said.
Qantas executives say they have contingency plans in place to keep disruptions to passengers to a minimum, but did not release details.
Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association is demanding a 5 percent wage rise for its members, while Qantas has offered a 3 percent rise and says it will not negotiate further.
Qantas' executive general manager for people, Kevin Brown, warned Monday the dispute could go on for some time.
"I don't think that there is a settlement at hand here," Brown told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. "We are a fair way apart."
He accused the union of holding "a gun to our head" by bringing the strike action, and said union officials kept raising their wage demands.
He said all passengers on canceled flights had been placed on other flights, all within one hour of their scheduled service
Steve Purvinas, the engineers' union national secretary, said Qantas management was being inflexible on the proposed wage increase.
"They came in and said, `3 percent - take it or leave it,'" Purvinas told the Macquarie Radio network. "This has been their position all along. Something has to change."
