Qantas issue was 'completely fixable'

Qantas passengers are heading back to the airline's terminals across Australia, with international services expected to return to normal by the afternoon.

All domestic services for Tuesday are scheduled as normal, with all international flights expected to return to business as usual by late Tuesday, Qantas said in a statement online.

It comes more than 48 hours after Qantas CEO Alan Joyce believed he had no alternative but to ground his entire fleet and threaten to lock out its workers.

Now, the airline will be focusing on reaching an agreement with the Transport Workers Union (TWU), the Australian International Pilots Association (AIPA) and the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA).

In the early hours of Monday morning, unions and Qantas emerged from a marathon hearing before Fair Work Australia (FWA).

They were told to stop all industrial action for 21 days and enter negotiations to resolve their differences.

Now that industrial action has ceased, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce says the airline can move ahead with certainty and regain customer confidence.

JOYCE OPTIMISTIC

"I have every confidence that we will recover back to a 65 per cent domestic market share and recover internationally," he said on Monday.

But AIPA has not ruled out challenging the FWA's ban on strike action.

"We're still considering our options," AIPA president Barry Jackson told ABC Television on Monday night.

Nevertheless, he said he was "pretty confident" the two parties could reach an agreement.

"We are a fairly engaged part of the workforce and we are willing to do what needs to be done."

The TWU also says it may challenge the ban on strike action.

"If the company negotiates in good faith, which is what we're expecting the company to do, the next 21 days we will not be taking industrial action," TWU national secretary Tony Sheldon told reporters in Sydney.

"We are also considering with our legal advisers whether we should appeal this decision."

Federal Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten said he did not believe the airline had set a precedent for how other Australian companies might deal with industrial action.

"I don't believe that what we've seen Qantas do will be a major precedent for some sort of new wave of radical employer militancy," Mr Shorten told ABC Television on Monday night.

"I think a lot of people will have a look at this and have a bit of a reaction (like) after a cyclone's been through and say my goodness, what's happened?"

The airline's problems with the unions was a "completely fixable issue", he added.