Qantas claims its passengers can book "with absolute certainty" there will be no futher industrial action for up to four years following the Transport Workers Union's backdown over its threat of legal action.

The TWU had previously threatened to challenge the Fair Work ruling that no further industrial action be taken by parties involved in the Qantas industrial dispute.

But the TWU has thrown its support behind the pilots union's planned court appeal seeking to overturn the ruling and says it will now push for a standard aviation award for the entire industry.

The Qantas dispute was on top of the agenda at a teleconference of the TWU National Committee of Management today.

At issue was whether the union should launch a legal challenge against the Fair Work Australia decision to terminate all industrial action after the airline announced it would ground all flights on October 29.

Qantas had pushed for a termination of all industrial action, saying it was the only way to give the airline certainty, but the union wanted a suspension.

The Australian International and Pilots Association (AIPA) launched proceedings in the Federal Court on November 11 to seek an order challenging the decision by Fair Work Australia to terminate industrial action.

The TWU now will throw its resources into resolving the Qantas dispute through arbitration by early next year.

The union national secretary, Tony Sheldon, called on the government today to back a uniform "aviation award" for the industry, which would cover Qantas workers as well of those at Virgin, Jetstar and other airlines.

"Under a modern award covering the entire aviation industry, Qantas and Virgin would be obliged to pay appropriate rates of pay to employees," he said.

"Qantas management have been saying that the reason they shut down [the fleet] is because of industry pressure.

"They have released numerous statements over the course of the year saying any attempts to negotiate above Virgin's pay rate would mean they are not able to remain competitive.

"If Qantas management are serious about staying competitive in the Australian aviation industry, they will support an industry-wide award."

Mr Sheldon said the union "fully supported" the pilots union's appeal.

The TWU's decision means Qantas customers can book flights with absolute confidence, said Qantas spokeswoman Olivia Worth, who seemed to discount the pilots appeal.

"There will be no industrial action by the pilots' union, licensed engineers' union and Transport Workers' Union for up to the next four years," she said.

"Our message to customers is that you can continue to book with Qantas with absolute confidence.

"The FWA ruling means that these three unions are unable to take industrial action for the upcoming period of arbitration and for the period of the EBA determination by Fair Work Australia - which could be up to four years."

Ms Wirth said customers had been returning to Qantas after a dramatic collapse in bookings as a result of the industrial action leading up to and during the grounding of the fleet.

Unions have been engaged in a bitter battle with the airline for almost a month, chiefly over wages and claims the airline is outsourcing its workforce to parts of Asia and slowly moving resources from Qantas to its low-cost carrier Jetstar.

The TWU was in meetings with Fair Work Australia this afternoon to determine the timetable and requirements of the arbitration hearings.

A directions hearing in the AIPA case is expected to be heard on December 1, with further hearings scheduled for the end of April next year, an AIPA spokesman said.