Virgin Australia is giving free status credits to its frequent flyers along with a 12-month extension to their current status to help them through the COVID-19 crisis. The status credit gift will see Platinum Velocity members receive 210 status credits while gold members get 105 and silver members 60 credits. The airline said it was aware it was challenging for Velocity members to maintain their status in the current environment of travel restrictions and reduced flights and was gifting the status credits to give them a helping hand. It said the 12-month extension meant there were no minimum flight sectors required to maintain their current tier over the next year. READ: Qantas and Jetstar suspend international flights, slash workforce “We know these times are tough, and it’s particularly hard where travel is concerned,’’ a spokeswoman said. “In this changing environment, the safety and needs of our members and guests are key and we are really pleased to be able to offer this 12-month Status extension in addition to the Status Credit gift. “We hope it gives them some peace of mind.” The options for both earning and burning Velocity points are about to shrink significantly with Virgin suspending international flying and halving domestic capacity. Melbourne-Los Angeles will be the first international route to be suspended on March 20. The decision also means the deferral of the airline’s new Brisbane-Tokyo Haneda and Melbourne-Denpasar services, both of which were due to launch March 29. The airline will ground five Boeing 777s, an Airbus A330 and 14 Boeing 737s from its international fleet. Twenty Boeing 737s, two ATRs and five Airbus A330s will also be grounded in the domestic fleet. The airline said it was still working through route and schedule changes across Virgin and Tigerair Australia. The airline did not quantify the impact on its workforce but said it was working with staff and unions on a range of measures including the use of accrued annual leave, leave without pay, and in some circumstances, redundancies.