Qantas plane forced to make emergency landing

Engine failure has forced a Qantas plane to make an emergency landing - the second mechanical problem to ground one of the national carrier's aircraft within four days.

Twenty-three passengers were on board the Dash-8 turbo-prop aircraft - flight QF 2260 from Sydney to Lord Howe Island - when it experienced an "oil pressure issue" with one of its engines at about 2pm (5pm NZT) yesterday.

"The engine was shut down ... and the aircraft landed at Lord Howe Island without incident a short time later," a Qantas spokeswoman told AAP.

No passengers were injured and engineers were flown to the NSW-governed resort island, about 500km east of the Australian coast, to assess the aircraft.

The incident comes after a Sydney-bound flight from Bangkok was forced to turn back to the Thai capital on Sunday, after passengers reported feeling vibrations and hearing a "bang" aboard a Boeing 747.

Meanwhile, an estimated 60,000 Qantas passengers have been affected by a series of rolling strikes by engineers and ground crews.

The airline last week cancelled 400 domestic flights over the next month, blaming the disruptions on engineers' strikes.

More passengers are expected to be affected again next week as baggage handlers, ground staff and catering employees announced they would walk off the job on Tuesday, October 25.

The Transport Workers Union (TWU) said it would conduct one-hour stoppages at Brisbane Airport from 7am and Melbourne Airport from 8am, local times, after talks over a new enterprise bargaining agreement broke down.

The union said the airline refused to negotiate until items were taken off the table.

"Qantas is happy to run a $530 million pre-tax profit and move heaven and earth to ensure Alan Joyce gets his 71 per cent pay increase ... but retaining well-trained, quality staff is beyond them," TWU lead negotiator Scotty Connolly said in a statement.

But Qantas said the unions demands would make the airline less efficient.

"We tried to compromise on a number of matters, however, we just cannot agree to all of their demands," Qantas group executive operations Lyell Strambi said.

Qantas is assessing the impact the action will have on passengers and will contact customers about cancelled or delayed services.

The airline was also hit by the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) on Wednesday, which said it had filed a complaint with Qantas and with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA).

It alleged that one of the airline's managers filed paperwork on a plane before it had landed in Darwin on October 13.

"Our members have come into work and seen that the checks have been certified and signed up and the plane wasn't there yet," ALAEA federal secretary Steve Purvinas told AAP on Wednesday.

"That, of course, is illegal."

But Qantas rejected the claims.

"The licensed engineer carried out the administration of maintenance work in accordance with Qantas engineering policies," the airline said.