In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Virgin Australia has revealed plans to make a third of its workforce redundant.
Under new owner Bain Capital, Virgin Australia will sack 3,000 employees, retire its budget airlines Tigerair, and offload long-haul international jets.
The company — which went into voluntary administration back in April after owing $6.8 billion — announced that the relaunch plans would make it a “stronger, more profitable and competitive” carrier in the post-coronavirus era.
Virgin Australia chief executive Paul Scurrah revealed that the airline had no choice but to downsize if they hope to survive the pandemic.
“Demand for domestic and short-haul international travel is likely to take at least three years to return to pre-COVID-19 levels, with the real chance it could be longer, which means as a business we must make changes to ensure the Virgin Australia Group is successful in this new world,” he shared in a statement.
“Working with Bain Capital, we will accelerate our plan to deliver a strong future in a challenging domestic and global aviation market.
“We believe that over time we can set the foundations to grow Virgin Australia again and re-employ many of the highly skilled Virgin Australia team.”
The employee cuts with affect those across cabin crew, ground crew, engineers, baggage handlers and some international head office staff.
It’s okay though. Those 3,000 odd people who have been left bereft with work will be gifted a “heartfelt gift” from Sir Richard Branson himself.
The billionaire is set to issue each former employee a personally signed photograph of an aircraft in commemoration of their time at the airline. Who needs financial security when you can have a signed photograph of a PLANE. We don’t need food anymore we can survive on the pure, ecstatic joy of owning something graced by the hand of Branson.
