Qatar Airways says it added 10,000 seats to its network Tuesday as it continued to fly home passengers wanting to get back to their families during the COVID-19 crisis.

This included extra flights to Paris, Perth and Dublin from Doha as well as charter services to Europe and the US from Asia.

In Australia, Qatar will add 48,000 seats from March 29 to operate a daily service to Brisbane, double daily flights to Perth and Melbourne as well as a triple-daily service to Sydney.

It also upgraded services to Frankfurt, London Heathrow and Perth by putting the Airbus A380 on those routes.

READ: Air New Zealand unveils reduced schedule for dark days ahead

Qatar Airways continues to operate to more than 70 destinations around the world as it offers a lifeline to travelers stranded by the tsunami of global airline capacity cuts.

The airline says it is following strict staff bio-security screening procedures for staff operating the flights and is working with global and national authorities to implement the latest guidance on COVID-19 measures.

It has introduced upgraded aircraft cleaning procedures and has a young fleet with advanced air filter screening systems.

The International Air Transport Association says that aircraft air conditioning systems are equipped with high-energy particulate air (HEPA) filters that can screen more than 99.9 percent of airborne threats, including microbes and viruses.

The airline’s home state of Qatar has barred entry to foreign nationals but is still allowing passengers to transit through its hub at Hamad International Airport.

“Figures for the last seven days show load factors of over 80 percent for flights to the UK, France and Germany, with a fall to 36 percent for outbound services from those countries, illustrating the demand for homeward travel,’’ an airline spokesperson said.

“Qatar Airways has flown more than 100,000 passengers home in the last seven days while 72 percent of passengers carried on 24 March were nationals flying to their country of origin.

“Working with embassies around the world, the airline has operated one-off services from destinations such as Phnom Penh, Denpasar, Manila and Kuala Lumpur to Europe.

“More than 5,000 passengers were flown home by these services over the last week, a number that is expected to more than triple over the next week.”

States that have introduced travel bans are allowing their own citizens to return, although with strict quarantine requirements. People who are not citizens or permanent residents are barred from entering an increasing number of countries.

Virgin Australia will reduce its group domestic capacity by 90 percent, ground 125 aircraft and stand down 8,000 workers in a dramatic response to COVID-19 travel restrictions aimed at getting it through the crisis.

About 80 percent of the airline’s 10,000 workers will be stood down until at least the end of May.

Some will be able to access accrued leave entitlements but the airline acknowledged that many would face leave without pay and is working with suppliers to find them alternative employment.

There will also be redundancies as the airline continues to restructure to lower its cost base.

“We’re still working through those numbers with our people and the unions but at this point in time, on the back of these announcements today, that’s roughly 1000 people,’’ Virgin chief executive Paul Scurrah told AirlineRatings.

The airline will suspend all flying by low-cost offshoot Tigerair immediately and cut most of its domestic operations by March 27 through to at least mid-June.

This in addition to its decision to suspend all international flying from March 30 to June 14 and close all Virgin-operated lounges across its network.

READ: IATA warns of or airline ‘apocalypse now’ as forecast revenue hit doubles.

The remaining 10 percent of domestic capacity, some 13 aircraft, will be retained for the transportation of essential services, critical freight and logistics.

Services will be suspended to 19 destinations, but Virgin will continue to operate “near-daily” services to 17 others.

See a list here.

Areas that will not return after the suspension include Virgin’s New Zealand cabin crew and pilot base as well as its Melbourne Tigerair pilot base.

“We’re making very hard and very tough decisions right now and those decisions are all about making sure we can manage our way through this crisis,’’ Scurrah said.

“Everything we’re doing right now is focusing on the preservation of cash and making sure we’re as liquid as possible to weather this storm.”

Asked whether he would follow the lead of Qantas and raise money by securitizing aircraft, he said: “We have further levers we can pull, which we won’t announce today.

“Today is really about slowing down the rate of costs and preserving cash as long as we can to weather this unprecedented event.”

The dramatic suspension comes as Australian states have closed their borders and government warnings not to travel have intensified. The Australian government has now also banned nearly all outbound foreign travel.

READ: Australia bans outgoing travel as some ignore warning.

The aviation industry, including Virgin, will still need government support and Scurrah is optimistic that will come after comments last week by senior government ministers about the need to ensure a healthy, competitive aviation sector.

He noted a competitive aviation industry was essential to a strong, rapid recovery after the crisis and both major airlines would be needed.

“I think you saw their intent to support the airline industry with the package announced last week and which was a good start,’’ he said. “We’re confident they’re going to be standing by the industry.”

With the planes Qantas is also taking out of service, Australia now faces the biggest grounding of aircraft in its history.

For Virgin, this means repositioning and grounding more than 125 aircraft. The planes will be spread across airports and government facilities as they wait for the day they can return to service.

He said airports had put aside recent rivalry to help the airline.

“With a few exceptions, pretty much everyone in this industry is working together, working collegiately as a team, to get through this,’’ he said. “And airports are no different.

“We’ve had some really proactive and positive support from them.”

Scurrah also applauded Virgin staff for working tirelessly to help passengers ahead of various state travel restrictions.

He vowed to return Tigerair and Virgin Australia to the skies “as soon as it is viable to do so” but warned the group may look different when it emerged from the crisis.

Questioned about this, he confirmed the airline would still be a full-service operator, fly widebody international routes and have a robust low-cost offering when leisure demand returned.

“I think the Virgin Australia people have come to love and know will be back stronger and better than ever,’’ he said. “What we will be doing though is making sure we become as efficient as we possibly can and make sure we’re in a position to fly as many routes as we can. “

Like everyone else, the Virgin chief was uncertain about when that would be.

“We’ve made some assumptions in the decisions we’ve made today about this being a prolonged crisis,’’ he said.

“So those decisions have formed the basis of our action to move forward and make sure we manage our way through this crisis.”

The International Air Transport Association (IATA)  has warned airlines need $US200 billion in liquidity support as they face “apocalypse now” with forecast global passenger revenues plummetting as much as $US252 billion.

IATA’s latest estimate of the revenue hit airlines could suffer is more than double its previous estimate of $US113 billion, made on March 5 before the introduction of sweeping travel restrictions, and is 44 percent down on 2019 figures.

It is based on a scenario in which severe travel restrictions last for up to three months but are followed by a gradual economic recovery later in the year.

READ: Australia bans outgoing travel as some ignore warning.

But the airline umbrella group warned any recovery would be weakened by the impact of a global recession on jobs and confidence.

Hardest hit by the revenue slump in dollar terms will be airlines in the Asia-Pacific (down $US88 billion)  and Europe (down $US 76 billion), which also leads the fall in percentage terms.

IATA is also expecting full-year passenger demand to be 38 percent below 2019 with a 65 percent fall in capacity in the second quarter ended June 30.

“The airline industry faces its gravest crisis,” IATA director-general  Alexandre de Juniac said.

“Within a matter of a few weeks, our previous worst-case scenario is looking better than our latest estimates.

“But without immediate government relief measures, there will not be an industry left standing.

“Airlines need $200 billion in liquidity support simply to make it through. Some governments have already stepped forward, but many more need to follow suit.”

The airline group is calling for governments to provide direct financial support, loans or loan guarantees and tax relief to airlines.

The IATA chief said airlines were fighting for survival in every corner of the world as passenger demand evaporated.

He said governments needed to understand that without urgent relief many would not be around to lead the post-COVID-19 recovery, putting some 2.7 million airline jobs at risk

“For airlines, it’s apocalypse now,” he said

“And there is a small and shrinking window for governments to provide a lifeline of financial support to prevent a liquidity crisis from shuttering the industry.”

IATA cited examples of government support, including Australia’s $A715m ($US430m) aid package and Air New Zealand $NZ900m loan facility as well as relief measures in Brazil, China, Hong Kong, Qatar, Singapore and Scandinavia.

The European Union and the US are also expected to introduce significant measures to support the airline industry as part of broader economic packages.

“This shows that states around the globe, recognize the critical role that aviation plays in the modern world. But many others have still to act to preserve the important role of this sector,” de Juniac said.

“Airlines are an economic and employment engine. This is demonstrated even as passenger operations shrink, as airlines continue to deliver cargo that is keeping the economy going and getting relief supplies where they are needed most.

“The ability for airlines to be a catalyst for economic activity will be vital in repairing the economic and social damage that COVID-19 is now causing.”

However, the UK has baulked at an airline bailout, telling airlines it is only prepared to enter negotiations with individual companies as a last resort.

IATA’s forecast impact on passenger revenue by region:

Australia is upgrading its outbound  “do not travel”  warning to a ban that prevents most Australians from heading overseas.

The federal government will use biosecurity powers to prevent a small number of people who continue to ignore the travel warning from heading overseas from Wednesday.

Exceptions will include aid workers, those who need to travel on compassionate grounds or for people whose travel is essential for work.

READ: COVID-19 wipes out 35 percent of global airline capacity, with more to come.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison told a press conference on Tuesday night that the number of people leaving Australia was now “very, very low” but there were still a number of people defying the do not travel advice and looking to head overseas for leisure travel.

Morrison said the government had been making the point for some time that no-one should be getting on a plane and going overseas for some time.

“They can’t do it because when they come home, that’s when they put Australians at risk,” he said. ” I had hoped that would have been fully complied with and I’ve got to say, Australians have been pretty good about it. But we need to put that arrangement in place.”

Asked when the ban would come into effect, Morrison said a directive was being worked on overnight and would come into force Wednesday.

Australia already has in place bans on incoming foreigners but Australians are flocking back to the country while commercial travel is still available and many of the nation’s more than 2100 confirmed cases have been acquired overseas.

Officials say the majority of the overseas cases had a recent history of travel to Europe or the Americas and cruise ships have proved a problem.

The travel ban was part of a number of new measures introduced as Australian tightens coronavirus restrictions and expands limits on gatherings to include weddings, funerals and other events.

Pubs, restaurants, cinemas and other venues are already off-limits and Australians are being urged to stay home and respect social distancing requirements as authorities try to curb the spread of the disease.

Australia is among a number of countries tightening travel restrictions and Hong Kong on Wednesday will join other global airline hubs such as Singapore and Dubai in banning transit passengers.

Cathay Pacific, which had already announced it was slashing capacity to just 4 percent, has a comprehensive list of entry restrictions on its website although these are subject to change.

One country that is was still allowing air services on Tuesday was Qatar.

Qatar Airways said it was still operating flights to more than 70 cities worldwide. It said it was constantly reviewing its flights to see where there was more demand or requests for services and where possible would add flights or put on bigger aircraft.

“We appreciate this is a difficult time and that many people around the world are trying to find a way to get home,” it said

“At Qatar Airways we continue to operate more than 150 flights per day so that as many people as possible can get home safely to their loved ones.”