The formal apology is the latest move by the airline to improve its falling reputation but it has failed to impress the Transport Workers Union. In a statement on Sunday,the union’s national secretary,Michael Kaine,said “Australia sees through this stunt”.

“Enough of the gimmicks,” Kaine said. “If Qantas management,or indeed Joyce,really cared about customers,the right thing to do would be to appoint a new chief executive with the business acumen to bring back highly trained,experienced workers and treat them with respect.

“Aviation has been obliterated by corporate greed.”

Kaine said the industry needed a Safe and Secure Skies Commission to protect service standards and employment security.

This month,Qantas announced it would increase the waiting time between domestic and international connecting flights by 30 minutes to mitigate the number of people arriving at their destination without their luggage.

Qantas outsourced baggage ground handling in 2020,a decision that resulted in 1700 redundancies and has been blamed for contributing to the travelling chaos. The Federal Court found the move was in breach of the Fair Work Act,a verdict the airline is appealing in the High Court.

Qantas and other aviation employers have enlisted the help of managers and executives to opt into frontline operational duties,including baggage handling,to remedy some of the staffing issues in the industry. At the start of this month,Qantas called for at least 100 executives to swap some corporate responsibilities for baggage handling and driving tugs (the vehicle used for ferrying luggage around the airport).

The airline will report its financial results on Thursday.

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