Qantas flying again after 48 hour grounding

Qantas jetliners are seen parked at their terminal at Sydney Airport in this file photo. / generic, 4X3,qantas

CANBERRA, Australia - Qantas Airways is up and running again after a labor dispute that prompted the world's 10th-largest airline to ground its entire fleet.

The resumption of flights followed an emergency ruling on Sunday by an Australian arbitration court that ended weeks of strikes and canceled a staff lockout.

A flight from Sydney to Jakarta, Indonesia, took off shortly after the Australian flag carrier was given the all-clear to resume flying.

Video: Court orders end to Qantas strike

But Qantas says delays can be expected as it clears the backlog of tens of thousands of stranded customers affected worldwide by the nearly 48-hour grounding. The airline is adding extra flights and expects its schedule to return to normal within one or two days.

The court ruling was a major victory in the airline's battle with unions. Rolling strikes have forced the cancellation of 600 flights in recent months.

But some aviation experts said the surprise grounding of all 108 planes on Saturday, at a cost of $20 million a day, has hurt the Australian flagship carrier's reputation around the world.