Virgin Australia to slash all international flights and cut 50% domestic flights

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Virgin Australia recently announced its plan to suspend all international flights and ground its entire wide variety of aircraft. The suspension is expected to continue till the month of June and is being executed in light of the effects of the deadly coronavirus spread.

The carrier has also decided to slash domestic capacity flights by 50% for the same time period. Previously it announced a cut by 5%. The recent decision comes after the airline suspended earnings guidance for the current financial year as a result of the uncertainty caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

The airline announced that all international flights are being grounded from 30^th of March 2020 to June 14^th  2020 due to the latest travel restrictions undertaken by the Australian government and all the measures executed by countries across the globe in response to the virus outbreak. Virgin Australia also mentioned that a reduced international schedule would be operated from the present date till 29^th March 2020 in order to allow Australians to return back home and other visitors to reach their own point of origin.

Meanwhile, the airline is also cutting down domestic capacity due to reduced demand for flights. The carrier is currently working on route and schedule details and will be providing all required information to customers in the forthcoming week.

Paul Scurrah, Chief Executive Officer, Virgin Australia said in a recent press statement that the global aviation industry has entered an unprecedented time. He mentioned that the present situation requires them to take important action to manage their business and balance the demands of the travellers while keeping in mind the well-being and safety of Australians.

Virgin Australia including Tigerair Australia will be grounding a total of 53 aircraft across both international and domestic capacity. On the financial front, Australia has recently announced a $430 million relief package for its aviation industry.

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