Wow - that is a very long bow, even by the standards on these boards.

$1.4 billion for 8,000 jobs. That’s $175,000 per job. So to be quite cold, no, they’re not worth it. Unemployment rates are conservatively estimated to reach at least 10%, or around 800,000 workers. Virgin employees are a drop in the ocean compared to the economic effects of this virus.

10 years of mismanagement are the reason they’re going bust, not the govt.

So the strong should make a sacrifice to help the more vulnerable?
because doing that’s why we’re all in this **** at the moment.

thanks for supporting VA assistance

Wow!!

Ladies and gentlemen.... we have a winner

Absolute bull****!!! If it wasn't for COVID-19, Virgin would not be going bust!

No, but sadly they were circling the drain.

bingo.
anyone suggesting that it was a foregone conclusion, I assume had taken a short on the position to back up their confidence. Should be laughing now.

otherwise they’re speaking with revisionist bull****.

So the billions of dollars of debt accrued before this is irrelevant?

ECAM, very eloquently put. Exactly my thoughts; but I wouldn’t have been able to convey it as well.

Completely irrelevant! The company was turning around under a competent new leader. That's what he's good at and that's what he was doing!

True, but if they didn’t screw up the last decade, they wouldn’t be begging for cash, bringing in debt corporates, crying administration.

Had they stuck to their profitable and debt free previous roots, of Virgin Blue, and went down the Alaska of JetBlue type of model, without gutting the joint to the tune of billions, they might have a few billion bucks on the balance sheet, profitable, and little debt. They could have gone to lenders tomorrow and secured cash against their aircraft. They could have secured billions on finance, if they were in a better position. They can’t do that today because they already did that, to fund a airfare war.

$5b in debt. Asking for another $1.4b that will never be repaid. Where does it end? The government with a slice of equity in a broke company? Please.

Fold it up. Start again. Drop the royalty payment bull**** to Tiger and Branson.

The interest alone on a $1.4b loan would cripple any turn around PS was making.

https://www.worldometers.info/corona...try/australia/

Take a good look at all these graphs and project them. By a months time or middle of June the Virus will be eradicated.
The Lancet also indicates this on their website. I also agree to this because viruses get weaker and weaker over time.
If that's the case we will be into only week 2 of the job keeper allowance right at the time everyone is starting to go back to work.
i.e payroll will be reverting all salaries. Hence the 130 billion would be hardly touched. Catch my drift or am
I being too situationally aware.

And another thing: Where the F#@*K are the Greens. Not one mention in the last 4 weeks until I typed it in 14 words ago.
Hiding in there rabbit holes like they did during the bushfires. They stand for F@#*K all and always have. They are
friggen cowards, wimps, useless waste of time and money and couldn't give a shizen about any of our jobs.
I've saying that for 20 years.

Directimped. I forgot about their website. I had a quick look nothing new there. Money grows on trees party are still
in hibernation Adam will come out of the bunny hole in August.

For the record, I don’t want VA to fall or anyone to lose their jobs.

I just think any support VA gets needs to be part of an industry wide package, not a direct government intervention which is essentially buying into VA’s considerable debt. I don’t think it’s fair and I think it would set a precedent for a lot of other private enterprises in Australia that the government will bail them out during COVID, regardless of their previous financial situation. As cliche as it is, the Govt shouldn’t be picking winners and losers, just helping out the sector evenly.

For people that work there, that still ******* sucks and I understand that totally.

For the liberal government at the moment, I imagine the discussion is centring around conservative economic values vice the potential electoral hurt and slower tourism industry that results from less flights and competition.

From what Scomo has said publicly though, I think they’ve made their decision already.

Best of luck to everyone.

For “those” ....” do we decide they are worth it ? “... posting here with their contributions to this existing condition regarding the hardship that many of us will encounter and the imminent downgrading of our relative peaceful and prosperous life please tell your elderly family members or the elderly population in general that
you are willing to sacrifice them for your possible better life in the future .Sacrificial lambs.Those that endured the Depression and two World Wars with the associated lives lost to secure your future .......Well........I’m lost for words.

Untangle your knickers and read the ANALOGY again.

that whistling you hear isn’t tinnitus, it’s you spectacularly missing the point.
well done

I need some advice:

On Saturday 11th of April: I rang VA...they said my flight was a non refundable flight (PER-MEL-PER in November). I told them to put my flight into flight credit which they did. But then I asked them what if VA goes under..then my flight credit ceases to exist...they said they are not thinking that far ahead. I then told them to reinstate the flight as normal and if VA is around still in November when my flight is scheduled then I will still fly to MEL. I'll watch and keep an eye on the situation. Flight is still 7 months away. I also had hotel room booked but that isnt complicated as I pay on arrival. So really its just the airfare which is a bit sticky but i do have 7 months to keep an eye on things and I'll re-assess it in Sept/Oct.

But due to the current situation it seems VA are not looking at all. Will VA go under in a matter of weeks or months? Should I call VA and ask them to cancel my flight and put it into flight credit for 12 months.

Any advice is appreciated.

Cheers.

You really don’t have many options. If it were me I’d be keeping the booking. As you said it’s 7 months away.. there’s plenty of water to flow under the bridge yet... but for a few reasons (credit card policies for flight cancellations, possible transfer of pax to other services) and others not worth going into, it’s probably advantageous to have a booking rather than a flight credit. JMHO

Good news about to be announced to the market. 64 domestic flights a week each for VA, QF and JQ to start tomorrow.

MELBOURNE

• Melbourne / Adelaide (three return services per week)

• Melbourne / Brisbane (seven return services per week)

• Melbourne / Canberra (three return services per week)

• Melbourne / Perth (seven return services per week)

• Melbourne / Sydney (seven return services per week)

BRISBANE

• Brisbane / Melbourne (seven return services per week)

• Brisbane / Sydney (seven return services per week)

• Brisbane / Cairns (three return services per week)

• Brisbane / Mackay (five return services per week)

• Brisbane / Rockhampton (three return services per week)

• Brisbane / Townsville (three return services per week)

SYDNEY

• Sydney / Melbourne (seven return services per week)

• Sydney / Brisbane (seven return services per week)

• Sydney / Gold Coast (three return services per week)

CANBERRA

• Canberra / Melbourne (three return services per week)

ADELAIDE

• Adelaide / Melbourne (three return services per week)

PERTH

• Perth / Melbourne (seven return services per week)

• Perth / Broome (three return services per week)

• Perth / Port Hedland (two return services per week)

• Perth / Newman (two return services per week)

• Perth / Karratha (two return services per week)

• Perth / Kununurra (two return services per week)

• Perth / Kalgoorlie (two return services per week)

Has that been confirmed?

Again is this been confirmed?

I am also a Velocity member i have 13,700 points.

I remember when I lost 150,000 Ansett points.

Yep, on news.com

This makes no sense at all! PM on TV today telling us the current lock down will continue for two more weeks then it will be reviewed. All of a sudden there is all this travel allowed. Can I now book a holiday?!

And if it wasn't for 9/11, Ansett would still be flying today? :hmm:

I don’t know how they will
do interstate services to Perth. The WA Premier has just said the WA borders will be closed for at least 6 months.

And where is this confirmed? Edit.. just saw it... looks like it is confirmed.

Ragnor,
There are other many other reasons to travel other than a holiday. For a start there a those who are just getting out of 14 days in quarantine in different states to where they live. Now they have a way to get home.

And regards to the WA boarder closure, you don’t need permission to leave the state, and if you have valid reasons (including compassionate) you can enter under permission.

Good call by the Govt and great to see that virgin will be involved.

Good news for everyone to get something moving

https://travel.virginaustralia.com/a...twork-schedule

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-...nsion/12155466

Something for everyone to collective high-5 about.

I am confused. VA state:

Book with confidence

We know there’s a lot of uncertainty with travel at the moment, so we want you to know we’ve got your back.

And then this appears:
We will always do our best to get you to your destination on time, however, we do not guarantee flight times or schedules and they do not form part of your contract with us.

What specialist thought of this. What is left of the contract then ?. Have they ever guaranteed flight time or schedules ?. Is this more Virgin poppycock ?

Qf say the same in their t and c. Nothing to see there. Happy flying. A bit of good news

Kick the can down the road a bit further...

Take the blinkers off you lot. This isn’t the white knight for VA. It’s a joint ‘break even’ operation with the government. There’s still $5 billion to sort out in debt, and VA OR QF aren’t to be making money out of this, purely to keep the nation & freight networks going. With border restrictions still in place at the moment can you honestly believe there’s a massive interest in travel tomorrow.....

Why did Virgin halt trading pending the release of this announcement when Qantas didn’t?

The trading halt has nothing to do with that announcement.

https://www.afr.com/politics/federal...0200415-p54jwd

Private equity investors circle over Virgin

At least two private consortia are circling to take over Virgin Australia, reducing pressure on the federal government to bail out the ailing airline.

Sources inside government and the aviation industry confirmed to The Australian Financial Review that one consortium involves a private equity investor partnered with a "a strategic airline investor".

The other is believed to be an investment bank partnered with an Australian infrastructure investor.
https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0...8dab24a91c6fc4Virgin Australia's majority shareholders have refused to pour more money into the struggling airline. Bloomberg

While Qantas has the economic capacity to ride out the coronavirus-induced shutdown, Virgin has asked the government for a $1.4 billion loan to tide it over and threatened to tip the airline into voluntary administration if it does not receive help.

The government has refused, believing that will end up owning the airline that was already saddled with a $5 billion debt before the crisis struck. and that was seeking a loan worth more than twice its market capitalisation.
"We want to see two airlines in the domestic market but we're not in the business of owning an airline,'' Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said on Thursday.There are many market-based options that are currently being pursued, and I would wish those discussions every success.

— Prime Minister Scott Morrison
Prime Minister Scott Morrison alluded to the interest from private equity yesterday when also ruling out a government bailout.

"We appreciate the value of two competitive viable airlines in the Australian economy,'' he said.

"Any responses the Commonwealth government will have will be done on a
sector-wide basis, and that's the way we will continue to pursue those issues.

"I'm aware that there are many market-based options that are currently being pursued, and I would wish those discussions every success."

One Virgin source said it was not the company's preference to be taken over by "corporate raiders'' with little or no airline experience.

Virgin remains in a trading halt and has appointed UBS and Macquarie to drum up an equity injection or restructure. Virgin shareholders Etihad Airways, Singapore Airlines, Nanshan Group and HNA Group, who together own 80 per cent of the company, have refused to tip in fresh funds for the airline.

Two paths ahead

Without government support for Virgin, there are thought to be two ways that the Virgin situation could play out. One of those is through a pre-agreed deed of company arrangement, which would require agreement from unions and governments, and then cleans out unsecured creditors.

It would need creditor approval, which would likely include employees, frequent flyer point holders and more.

The other would be placing Virgin in voluntary administration, which would remove any certainty around who would end up owning the airline. This option might be less politically attractive.

It is understood that the interest from the private sector prefers Virgin going into voluntary administration, enabling new investors to restructure the debt and take control by removing or shaving down the existing shareholders.

This would enable the new owners to restructure the company into one that makes a profit. This could involve significant job losses.

BGH Capital is among the most speculated private equity firms for the asset. BGH's Ben Gray ran the local arm of private equity giant TPG when it bid jointly for Qantas. BGH declined to comment.