Qantas Airways and its unions have been ordered by an Australian labor tribunal to terminate industrial action and return to the negotiating table. The ruling helped end a fleet-wide grounding that caused the cancellation of almost 500 domestic and international flights since Saturday.

The decision by Qantas to lock out employees and ground its aircraft was the culmination of months of bitter labor disputes. The tribunal’s ruling calls for 21 days of negotiations between unions and Qantas. If an agreement is not reached by that time, the tribunal will issue a binding ruling.

Updates on flight cancellations are available at http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/disruptions/global/en and via Qantas’s official Twitter account.

Affected customers have until January 31, 2012 to request refunds.