The weekly 737 flights, which depart Brisbane on Saturdays and return from Koror on Sundays, began in December last year, with Qantas taking over from Nauru Airlines under contract with the Australian Government.

Qantas is being warned it risks losing its place in the national psyche after its latest indiscretion: a $90 million fine for the illegal sacking of workers.

Qantas has been ordered to pay the largest industrial relations penalty in Australian corporate history over the illegal sacking of 1,820 workers during the coronavirus pandemic, after a judge criticised the airline’s lack of genuine contrition over the affair.

The $90m penalty imposed on Qantas for its illegal outsourcing of ground crews is unlikely to trouble the airline financially, with savings already made from the decision eclipsing the cost of the long-running court ordeal.

The airline says it was not an official order and an employee has been told never to make the same mistake again.

Qantas has been ordered to pay a $90 million penalty for illegally sacking more than 1800 workers, marking the final chapter in a saga that began in 2020.