Qantas to minimise strike effects with larger

QANTAS will fly bigger aircraft in and out of Brisbane next Wednesday to try to counter disruptive strike action by engineers.

About 40 members of the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association will stop work for the first two hours of their shift on the day of the State of Origin decider in their ongoing dispute with the airline over their pay and conditions.

ALAEA federal secretary Steve Purvinas said to minimise disruption, they had offered the airline the option of "using people who were not rostered on to come in and work overtime".

"It's pretty peak time (that we're striking) between 5am and 9am but it shouldn't matter if the company accepts our offer of strike breakers," Mr Purvinas said.

"I wasn't even conscious your little State of Origin was on."

Luke Enright from Qantas said the airline would not be paying staff "four times their normal pay" to go on strike.

"Targeting the State of Origin is a new low for the engineers' union and we will do everything we can to get people to Brisbane for the game," Mr Enright said.

"We have put bigger aircraft on routes in and out of Melbourne on Monday to deal with the strikes and will look to do something similar for Brisbane on Wednesday.

Qantas announced last night it would use larger Boeing 767 aircraft for services in and out of Melbourne, ensuring the majority of passengers can travel as planned.

The Australian Licenced Aircraft Engineers Association will take strike action following this week's breakdown in negotiations.

Qantas group executive operations Lyell Strambi said the airline would inform affected passengers over the weekend.

"We apologise to families and other customers who may be impacted by the union action. We are doing everything we can to get families to their destinations as quickly as possible," Mr Strambi said.

"Most people are surprised that the union is going on strike over the school holidays and while services are still being impacted by the volcanic ash cloud.

"If the union is serious about not disrupting the travel plans of Australians then they should call off the strikes immediately.