In a significant ruling, the High Court of Australia (HCA) has refused a charter flight company’s application to appeal an important decision of the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia (FCA) upholding the recognition of standby duty as paid work.
The case concerns the nature of work and the distinction between work and availability to work within the context of the use of standby in commercial piloting.
Corporate Air Charter was denied special leave to appeal the earlier decision (that standby duty constitutes "work" and must be included when calculating average weekly work hours for pilots) and has been ordered to award legal costs to the Australian Federation of Air Pilots.
In its decision of 7 August 2025, the HCA concluded that: “An appeal would be an inappropriate vehicle to consider the questions sought to be raised concerning the nature of work and the distinction between work and availability to work.”
The decision also outlined the company’s previous appeals:
“The applicants sought special leave to appeal from a judgment of the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia (Justices Logan, Dowling and McDonald) dismissing an appeal from a decision of the South Australian Employment Court (Deputy President Lieschke) which found that an AFAP member was entitled to unpaid entitlements under the Air Pilots Award 2020 and Air Pilots Award 2010.”
The HCA is the highest court in the Australian judicial system and, as such, no further avenue for appeal is available to the company.
Senior Industrial/Legal Officer Jared Marks, an in-house legal counsel at the AFAP who worked on this case, said:
"This is a watershed moment for Australian aviation. The Courts have delivered a clear message that pilots' professional expertise and time must receive proper recognition and compensation - setting a new standard for the industry."
"These Court decisions affirm a fundamental employment principle – that workers must be fairly compensated for all time spent in service to their employer. The Courts have recognised that a pilot's time has real value, whether in the flight deck, preparing for flight, or maintaining readiness for duty."
"These decisions uphold a fundamental workers' right – that every employee deserves fair pay for all time spent serving their employer. We have consistently maintained that our members' time and expertise hold genuine value, and the Courts have now affirmed this basic principle of workplace fairness."
"These landmark cases have delivered a substantial uplift in pilot award conditions, establishing new benchmarks that will benefit pilots across the industry for years to come."
Corporate Air Charter Pty Ltd & Anor v Australian Federation of Air Pilots [2025] HCADisp 152
Media Contact
Anna Cousins 0400 988 722 anna@afap.org.au