Virgin Australia suspends international flying, halves domestic capacity
By Steve Creedy Tue Mar 17, 2020
Virgin Australia will suspend all international flying from March 30 to June 14 and reduce domestic capacity by 50 percent as it grounds 53 aircraft.
The cuts are the latest response to the COVID-19 crisis that saw Qantas this week announce it was slashing international flying by 90 percent and cutting domestic capacity by 60 percent.
READ: Massive Qantas cuts see international capacity slashed by 90 percent.
The airline says it will work with the Australian government to prioritize bringing Australians homes and returning visitors to their point of origin.
It has also warned some staff face redundancies as a result of the cuts.
Announcing the drastic cuts, Virgin chief executive Paul Scurrah said the global aviation industry had entered unprecedented times.
"We have responded by making tough decisions which include reducing our domestic capacity and phasing in the temporary suspension of international flying for a period of two and a half months,'' he said.
"We are committed to supporting our guests during this period and have set a dedicated customer service hub to manage the surge of customer queries and travel changes.
"We are also acutely aware of the important role airlines play in supporting connectivity, tourism and the nation's economy and are maintaining most of our domestic routes and instead reducing frequency in our schedule."
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.
"The changes announced today will affect our people and we are having constructive discussions with team members and relevant unions,'' Scurrah said.
"Wherever possible, we will aim to avoid redundancies by fast-tracking measures such as the use of accrued leave, leave without pay and redeployment."
Virgin said passengers with new, existing domestic and international bookings through June 30 have the option to change their flight to a later date and/or a different destination without incurring a change fee.
It said those who no longer wish to travel can cancel their flight and retain the value of the booking as a travel credit.
Those affected by the international suspension would be contacted via email within the next 14 days.
The airline urged passengers not due to travel in the next 24 hours or not in need of immediate assistance to refrain from contacting the airline.
Rating agency S&P earlier this week downgraded Virgin Australia to B- and placed it on negative credit watch due to the deteriorating domestic market.
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