By Greg Waldron2021-08-03T02:30:00+01:00
Qantas and its low-cost Jetstar unit will furlough 2,500 employees for two months, owing to a capacity collapse stemming from domestic travel restrictions.
The airline stresses that this is a temporary measure owing largely to Covid-19 restrictions in the Greater Sydney region, which has been locked down for weeks, as well as border closures in other states.
Most of the furloughed employees, which include pilots, flight attendants and airport workers, are located in Australia’s New South Wales state.
“This is clearly the last thing we want to do, but we’re now faced with an extended period of reduced flying and that means no work for a number of our people,” says Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce.
Date Time
Domestic airlines look for growth opportunities amid continuing challenges
Australia’s domestic airlines are gradually recovering from historically low passenger numbers, but snap border closures continue to create challenges for the industry.
The ACCC’s third Airline Competition in Australia report, released today, shows total passenger numbers for December 2020 were 41 per cent of pre-COVID numbers, up from the 13 per cent of pre-pandemic levels reported in September 2020.
The gradual recovery of the industry over the quarter to December 2020 meant air traffic also started to return to pre-pandemic domestic patterns. While intrastate routes accounted for the vast majority of passengers throughout 2020 because of closed borders, 69 per cent of passengers in December 2020 flew on interstate routes, up from 26 per cent in September 2020.
Source: Prime Minister of Australia
Jayne Hrdlicka, CEO Virgin Australia: Welcome, everyone. Itâs great to have everyone here today on a very cloudy Sydney morning. Itâs a day of great optimism with the announcements that have been made today by the Federal Government. Itâs a time for everybody to get excited about getting out and about and leaving home and travelling interstate. The packages that have been offered are enabling Virgin Australia and the industry to start to get back into the air, get more people travelling around the country and get our people back to work. The commitment to international flying in October is a really positive thing, I think, for all of Australia, and itâs definitely a positive thing for our employees. Weâve got lots of people that are still stood down and not working full time hours, and this package enables us to be able to get people back to work, get more people stood up and get people excited about the future in aviation