Listeners have told radio 6PR that commercial airline flights are leaving the eastern states with no luggage on board.

One listener, Jude, who flew in from Melbourne on Thursday night, says the pilot eventually departed the runway without any bags on board after a four-hour delay.

His story comes after another listener, Sam, told Perth Live on Wednesday he was waiting nearly a week for his luggage after boarding a Qantas flight and has no idea when it will arrive, a scenario echoed by other 6PR listeners.

Transport Workers Union national secretary Michael Kaine told Gareth Parker on 6PR Breakfast on Thursday two underlying reasons were impacting the baggage handling service.

“During the pandemic Qantas outsourced 2000 of these workers, and the federal court found that to be illegal, and those workers are sitting at home, hoping the court will say Qantas has to reinstate them, or Qantas can do it themselves,” he said.

“We know the day before last there were only 25 workers available at Melbourne Airport to do baggage handling.

“The second reason is that the federal government withheld or denied JobKeeper payments to the very companies that are under most pressure here: the security companies, the check-in staff, the caterers.”

Tap PLAY below to hear more from Michael Kaine on the pressures in the aviation industry