Qantas says the industrial action taken by the licensed engineers’, pilots’ and Transport Workers’ unions has cost the airline more than the Chilean volcanic ash cloud.

Qantas, which was holding its annual general meeting in Sydney on Friday, said the union action had cost it $68 million so far, and an additional $15 million per week in lost revenue.

The airline’s chief executive, Alan Joyce, said the situation was now very serious and impacting both passengers and the company’s bottom line.

“This drawn-out and co-ordinated industrial campaign by these three unions is now having a major impact on Qantas,” Mr Joyce said in a statement on Friday.

“$68 million is a significant impact on the company and the costs will continue to rise.

“In comparison, the impact on Qantas from grounding aircraft during the recent volcanic ash cloud was $49 million.”

But, Mr Joyce said, agreeing to the unions’ “unreasonable” demands would have a far greater cost and could risk Qantas’ future.

Qantas said the number of passengers impacted by the industrial action since August, including Friday’s planned strikes by the Transport Workers’ Union (TWU), was 70,922 – from 129 cancelled and 387 delayed flights.

In addition, Qantas had grounded seven aircraft due to ongoing concerns about the reliability of the fleet and a backlog of maintenance due to union action.

This had led to the cancellation of 500 flights and the removal of 88,000 seats from sale, Qantas said.

Qantas said the yield excluding foreign exchange in the first half was expected to be four to six per cent higher than a year earlier.

Capacity in the first half is likely to rise by six to seven per cent over a year earlier.

Underlying fuel costs for the first half would be $2.2 billion, compared with $1.7 billion a year earlier because of higher jet fuel prices and increased flying.

Qantas said the outlook for the first half of financial 2012 remained volatile and it was not possible to provide profit guidance at this time.