Tokyo: The labor union of low-cost carrier Jetstar Japan said Monday it has decided to cease its strike at the end of the day in the wake of a major earthquake in central Japan.

Monday’s negotiations between the union and the Jetstar management ended in failure.

But the quake occurred soon after that, prompting the labor union to decide to end the strike as it took the impact of the disaster into account.

The union started the strike on Dec. 22, 2023, because of a dispute with the management side regarding the handling of unpaid wages, leading to cancellations of the airline’s domestic flights due to a shortage of crew members and affecting passengers as a result, including those traveling to their hometowns during the year-end and New Year holidays. On Monday, 10 flights were canceled.

The strike was originally scheduled to last until next Sunday.

Following the decision to end the strike, the labor union is now asking member employees to return to work from Tuesday, in preparation for extraordinary flights that may be offered in the wake of the earthquake, which mainly hit Ishikawa Prefecture.

Jetstar’s domestic services are slated to return to normal Tuesday, excluding two flights–one from Narita International Airport, near Tokyo, to New Chitose Airport in the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido and the other from New Chitose to Narita.

JIJI Press