I don't know about the pax, the flights or the $, but from what I understand, the groundings are bullsh*t. Some of the aircraft were being readied for sale. If Qantas said that in the proceedings, that would be perjury, would it not? Please correct me if I am wrong.
Unfortunately, it doesn't really matter... Once the unions obtained permission from FWA to conduct PIA, Qantas could have shut down the next day in order to blackmail the government into termination of the PIA.
The fact is, the Fair Work legislation is an absolute crock and Gillard has essentially opened a back door for big business to circumvent PIA.
Even if the total loss to Qantas had been $70 rather than $70 million, it makes no difference to yesterday's judgement. The relationship between the financial cost to the airline of the union's action compared to the cost of Qantas' action is irrelevant. In fact, whether Qantas' grounding was appropriate or even legal is irrelevant - the point is, when Jooolia thinks there might be damage to the economy, she can stop it all on a whim and there is no accountability for Qantas' actions.
It's flawed legislation, and it's a national disgrace, and today (for the first time in my life) I'm embarassed to be an Australian.