Qantas holding country to ransom: pilots

Pilots have accused Qantas of "holding the country to ransom" with its decision to ground all its planes over a long-running industrial dispute.

Qantas today grounded its entire domestic and international fleets indefinitely and announced a lockout of engineers, pilots and other employees beginning on Monday night.

The move comes as a result of a long-running industrial impasse between Qantas and three unions: the Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA), the Transport Workers Union (TWU) and the Australian Licenced Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA).

AIPA president Barry Jackson said Qantas's move was extraordinary.

"It's really holding the country to ransom and as people have said it forces the government to take action," Mr Jackson told ABC television.

Mr Jackson expressed doubts about the legality of the carrier's actions.

"As far as being legally able to do this I'm not completely sure the company can legally do it but they've done it," he said.

"I dare say we will have discussions across the weekend on this."

The AIPA represents more than 2500 Qantas pilots domestically and internationally.

The Australian Workers Union leadership said they would meet tonight and tomorrow on the crisis.

AAP