I don’t want to give the new management too much credit, but this is being handled differently than in the past. With Joyce at the helm, Qantas would have fought this all the way to the High Court, threatened the FAAA with reprisal and exorbitant cost orders. Even if they knew they would lose. They’d hope for the FAAA to blink first or run out of money to fight it.
Perhaps they have taken a (very small) step toward civility.