The Australian government has agreed to underwrite the cost of Qantas and Virgin Australia routes between state capital cities and regional centres. It will cost the government $165 million over 8 weeks. The announcement means that Virgin Australia will be able to reinstate 200 of the 8000 staff that had been previously stood down. The…
Virgin Australia has entered a trading halt for the second time in as many weeks. The Guardian Australia reports Virgin has hired insolvency experts from Deloitte to work on restructure scenarios and a debt expert from Houlihan Lokey. The airline told ABC News Australia, “Virgin Australia has requested a trading halt as it continues to…
South Australia’s Department of Health (SA Health) has asked approximately 750 Qantas staff to self-isolate as a strategy to control the cluster of COVID-19 among Qantas baggage handlers at Adelaide Airport. So far the cluster has 34 cases. It consists of 18 baggage handlers, 13 close contacts of the handlers and 3 other Qantas…
Virgin Australia announced today that it is suspending all domestic services, except for a sole SYD-MEL return flight Sunday to Friday. The change starts from Friday 10 April. In a statement Virgin said it was still operating repatriation flights from Hong Kong and LAX, and that “demand for charter services in the resources sector remains…
The Qantas Group have announced that about 50 of their staff have been diagnosed with COVID-19. ABC Australia reports that Qantas Group medical officer Russell Brown told staff via webinar, “Most of those were from overseas, but they were taking the precautions. They are wearing masks when flying and being careful, and we’re still seeing…
The Australian government, Qantas and Virgin Australia have reached a deal to rescue Australians still overseas. Under the deal the airlines would fly with an empty cabin, but full of freight to 4 international hubs, London, LA, Hong Kong and Auckland. The government would subsidise the outgoing flights, with returning passengers paying full fare. The…
Qantas has received a letter from SafeWork NSW to say it is being investigated after standing down a COVID-19 whistleblower. The employee is a cleaner, union delegate and elected health and safety rep. They were stood down on 2 February. Qantas told ABC News Australia “A union delegate was stood down pending an investigation…
Virgin Australia was placed in a trading halt this week. The trading halt was to announce that the airline had requested a $1.4 billion ($US843 661 000, £681,863,000, €777,315,000) loan from the Australian government. Virgin has about 6 months of reserves, but requested the loan to “bolster the airline’s ability to reinstate workers once the…
QF741 from Sydney to Adelaide was turned around mid-flight after 6 Qantas baggage handlers at Adelaide Airport were confirmed to have tested positive for COVID-19. 7 other flights to and from Adelaide were also affected. Qantas said the aircraft turned around because it was unable to be serviced. ABC News Australia reports South Australia’s Chief…
Virgin Australia Managing Director Paul Scurrah said today that about 1000 of the 8000 workers being stood down will be made redundant. The 1000 figure includes all 220 Tigerair pilots as the Group moves to a single pilot pool to fly for both airlines. Mr Scurrah told ABC News Australia that, “this is the worst…
Virgin Australia has written to Australia’s competition watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), to complain about allegedly anti-competitive comments made by Qantas CEO Alan Joyce. Virgin MD Paul Scurrah wrote asking the ACCC “to investigate public commentary and an industry-wide campaign by Qantas that is designed to ensure a lessening of competition in…
Virgin Australia has posted a video on their Twitter of Cabin Supervisor Cassy making a final cabin announcement on a Virgin Australia service to Dunedin, New Zealand. In the emotional announcement Cassy says, “As crew we’ve called the skies our home for so long. It’s a little surreal knowing that we’ve come back down to…
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