Virgin ceases International ops and 50% dom reductions

[MarkR]

Originally Posted by Tim Bowrey

VH-VPD just leaving AKL now heading to HKG and VH-VOZ enroute MEL-HKG same time.

Must have been delayed a day. VA will be thankful they have the 777s and can fit a stack of cargo underneath ex HKG, still pretty significant backlog waiting up there as far as freight goes.

[Dave J]

Originally Posted by Robbie J

Should for-profit companies be given government bailouts?

Is the JobKeeper payment from the government enough assistance already, as it assists staff with their on-going cost of living expenses until this mess is sorted and solved?

Exec's awarding themselves generous multi-million dollar annual salary packages and then "crying poor" rarely passes the BS Test for me... although I notice Alan Joyce has honourably opted not to take a salary at this point.

Honourable??? He has already been paid $16mil this year. Cry me a river

[Daniel M]

Originally Posted by Greg McDonald

The job keeper package looks like it won't be paid until May then backpaid...I fail to see how this will help anyone who is struggling with expenses.

There is also most definitely NOTHING honorable with Joyce......

AMEN!

[Erik H. Bakke]

People are calling for VA not to receive a bailout because they are foreign owned. Does the ownership make the affected jobs any less Australian?

Also, if they refuse to support VA because it is foreign owned, that is not exactly the way to tempt any other foreign entities to invest in the Australian market once this crisis is over.

I fear that if VA shuts down, there simply will be no second player in Australia. Qantas will simply be so big that once there is any kind of market disturbance or uncertaintly, any number two airline will not be able to survive.

[Dave Dale]

I hope our government comes to help Virgin. I am sure the public can remember the upset with the demise of Ansett, which, in real terms, wasn't that long ago. Furthermore, I am sure Virgin is doing some soul searching of its own too. Perhaps there will be some changes made to make it more financially secure gong forward. I do hope it survives.

[Garry Emanuel]

I hope VA survives as I believe a duopoly is better than a monopoly, however, I am also very wary of the "bailout requests" - the financial mismanagement that has been a pretty constant backdrop for VA has never truly been addressed and the current ownership allows for the magnitude to be diluted and potentially hidden from general viewership.

Current management needs to be doing more than soul-searching ! ! !

[Greg McDonald]

It's a little hard to do much when Borghetti took Virgin from a promising airline to financial ruin during his tenure. The current management can only deal with what they have.

[Todd Hendry]

Originally Posted by Greg McDonald

It's a little hard to do much when Borghetti took Virgin from a promising airline to financial ruin during his tenure. The current management can only deal with what they have.

I’m pretty sure it’s not just John’s fault.

Where is Richard in all this?

Get rich quick scheme for him. Set up and run away.

[Greg McDonald]

Borghetti changed Virgin from a quite successful lower cost airline into a full service one and tried to compete with Qantas on a level playing field...it was never going to work!! They've been playing catchup ever since.

[Todd Hendry]

Originally Posted by Greg McDonald

Borghetti changed Virgin from a quite successful lower cost airline into a full service one and tried to compete with Qantas on a level playing field...it was never going to work!! They've been playing catchup ever since.

Correct, totally agree. But I still don’t think Richard was in for the longhaul or greater good of Virgin or his employees.