SYDNEY, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Australia's Qantas Airways said on Thursday five of its aircraft will remain grounded and up to 100 domestic flights a week will be cut due to an ongoing industrial action.

"Regrettably, the industrial action from the licensed aircraft maintenance engineers union is now making it difficult to clear maintenance tasks in a timely fashion," Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce said in a statement.

Four Boeing 737 aircraft and one Boeing 767 aircraft will remain grounded for at least one month, he said.

The cuts to flights will mainly impact services to and from the Australian major cities including Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, the company said.

The change to the airlines' flight schedules was due to the ongoing industrial action, which includes a ban on overtime and a go-slow approach to work, by Australian Licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineers (ALAEA), Qantas said.

Joyce said the action had caused a backlog of maintenance with on time performance dropping from 87 percent four weeks ago to 77 percent on Thursday.

Joyce said the ongoing industrial action was bringing severe disruptions to passengers and damage to the company's business.

"We urge the unions to drop this industrial campaign and come back with realistic claims for the sake of all Qantas employees, our shareholders and the Australian traveling public," he said.