SYDNEY, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Travelers in Australia were warned to expect flight delays on Friday after hundreds of Qantas engineers across the country began strike action over a pay dispute with the airline.

Around 500 engineers at Australia's five busiest airports, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, began walking off the job at 3:30 a.m. local time on Friday and would not return until 7:30 a.m. on Saturday.

It came after pay negotiations between Qantas and several trade unions representing the engineers broke down.

The unions said it was likely the strike would have an immediate impact on flights at the five airports.

A spokesperson for Qantas said that the airline had several contingencies in place to prevent delays.

The engineers, whose duties include towing and marshalling planes, demanded an immediate 15 percent pay rise followed by a 5 percent annual raise.

Qantas offered a 3 percent wage increase per year over three years.

Friday marked the first day of Australia's six-week summer travel period, with 13.5 million passengers expected to pass through capital city airports in the period.

Over 80,000 domestic passengers were set to depart from, or arrive at, Sydney Airport on Friday, its busiest day for domestic travel since 2019. Enditem

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