Virgin Australia stands down staff until early 4Q21

Virgin Australia (VA, Brisbane Int’l) has confirmed it has begun temporarily standing down a varying number of frontline employees until the end of October following renewed COVID-19 lockdowns in New South Wales and accompanying travel restrictions.

In an email to staff shared with ch-aviation, Chief Executive Officer Jayne Hrdlicka said the number of people required to work would “vary from week to week” but all affected would be eligible for weekly COVID compensation payments amounting to AUD750 Australian dollars (USD550).

This follows similar moves by Rex – Regional Express (ZL, Wagga Wagga) which is standing down 500 staff until September 12, 2021, while Qantas (QF, Sydney Kingsford Smith) has stood down 2,500 employees for at least two months.

Explaining the reasons, Hrdlicka said only 7% of Virgin Australia’s network was currently untouched by COVID-19 restrictions of some kind, with the airline flying only 25% of its planned schedule this month.

She said the airline had concluded consultation with labour unions regarding working arrangements for frontline staff. “Regrettably, the arrangements do involve reduced hours and/or temporary stand-downs for frontline staff at all bases. But they also include a minimum fortnightly payment for anyone affected, linked to available government support packages. Importantly, these arrangements also deliver the flexibility to meet increased demand stand-up flying when the opportunity arises to add more hours into the schedule.”

“We believe these arrangements balance the flexibility we need as a business right now with the need for financial certainty for our team members during what will be a challenging short-term period,” Hrdlicka added.

She declined to name the number of staff affected. “We’ve sought to tailor our approach so frontline team members can make decisions based on their individual circumstances. What that means is that there is no headline number or hard-and-fast period for our staff impacted by temporary stand-downs. The number of people we will require to work will vary from week to week and we anticipate this may continue until the end of RP11 (October).”

Earlier this month, the Australian federal government’s announced a new Retaining Domestic Airline Capability (RDAC) scheme, which would see airline staff outside of COVID lockdowns gain access to payments of AUD750 per week. Previously, stood-down workers in aviation could only gain access to financial support if they lived in areas that were locked down, through the government’s general COVID-19 Disaster Payment scheme.

The new aviation COVID aid sparked widespread confusion when it was first announced, as early reports suggested the payments were only on offer to pilots and cabin crew, and would only be offered to 50% of all stood-down staff members. However, a spokesperson for the Deputy Prime Minister’s office later confirmed that “any frontline staff employed by an airline are eligible” for the aviation-specific support programme, which does include all airport or ground workers employed by an airline, but subcontractors are not eligible.

Rex, on August 14, reiterated its warnings earlier in the week, confirming that 500 frontline workers would be stood down from August 16, 2021. This included pilots, cabin crew, airport workers, call centre-, ground- and head office staff. Flight attendants would share the remaining available work.

“This arrangement for our flight attendants is a great example of a pragmatic and unified approach as we grapple with the devastating consequences of lockdowns and border closures which have ravaged the entire aviation industry,” said Rex’s chairperson, John Sharp.

Earlier in August, Qantas announced would stand down 2,500 employees for around two months as a temporary measure after its capacity shrunk from almost 100% in May to just 40% in July 2021. Qantas gave staff two weeks’ notice with their pay continuing until mid-August.