A judge on Monday fined Qantas Airways 90 million Australian dollars ($59 million) for illegally firing more than 1,800 ground staff at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The penalty is in addition to the AU$120 million ($78 million) in compensation that Australia’s biggest airline had already agreed to pay its former employees.

Qantas’ unlawful outsourcing has cost the airline an estimated $240m – leaving the airline about $260m ahead, based on forecast savings from the move.

Indeed, most investors would have been braced for the maximum penalty available to Lee, which was $120 million, so the fact Lee showed a little clemency was an upside surprise.