Antibody tests are not 100% accurate. You can get false positives and false negatives even when they are used at the optimal time.

There is also a case report published of two patients (of 300 odd) who had COVID infection confirmed at the time using PCR, but who never developed antibodies that could be detected using an antibody test.

The point is, don't take anything for granted. The virus didn't exist at all 18 months ago, and in that time mutations are also changing the way it might impact the body.

I think there is a misunderstanding about what is meant by long term issues. Heart muscle damage is mostly irreversible, but small damage at a young age, you will most likely not even notice it. Most of us do not use our heart to its maximum capacity in normal life unless you do very vigorous gym routines or are an athlete. As you age the small amounts of damage add up as your maximum output comes closer to your daily activities needs, this is why older pilots require stress tests, and that sadly may be the first time you find out your heart is in bad shape and your medical is pulled. Don't confuse actual heart muscle damage with coronary artery blockage, that can be fixed via stent or grafts, that's just fixing the fuel lines to the heart, if the heart muscle is damaged by the lack of blood then you lose heart capacity and generally don't get it back. Lung damage can be reversed in some cases, you can chop out a large chunk of lung and it grows back, unlike the heart, which damage can be counteracted with making other parts of the heart work harder/more efficiently, but not reversed. Yes bad cases of the flu can cause similar damage, just due to the body being over-stressed, but this heart inflammation is being found in even mild cases of covid, and asymptomatic patients.

Maybe Ruperts Rags don’t cover it, but unbiased news sources continually present articles about people suffering from long Covid.
as 43inches mentioned, there seems to be a complete misunderstanding to what this actually entails.

Back to Virgin, are any flight crew still completely stood down ?

No, all pilots now stood up to 75 % for the next roster and even a few lucky FO’s on 100%............go figure.

but it could all change if another ‘catastrophic’ border closure happens

I believe they are being keep below 100% due to continued lack of Cabin Crew

Slightly OT, but former VA part-owner SQ has started selling off and leasing back their A350s and 787s after their recently announced losses. The name of the lessors were included in the media release.

https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/s.../ne1121-210503

interesting to compare and contrast the CEO of Singapore Ailines versus Qantas…. Just one example.

Desperate lack of CC at present. Most are being called and messaged several times by Crewing on both their OPT and DDO's

Max.

Is there not hundreds of 737 rated Tiger CC they could make an offer to and get online pretty quick smart?

I think the problem is a lack of qualified trainers to run training courses.Remember they were very happy to get rid of staff in the beginning.They didn’t care about the experience level of people going out the door.😆

Already have some of them online and coming online now PoppaJo. Good for them, I suppose.

How many of those were fully vaccinated? Because that’s the issue isn’t it - get the population vaccinated, almost eliminates the chance of people getting seriously sick from Covid, significantly reduces transmission of the disease and then things (like international borders) can return to normal.

Australia in a nutshell...overreacting and over-regulating everything...

Yeah! Why can’t we be more like India, the USA, UK, Europe

Wish there was a “like” button in this forum

False dichotomy

So much for JH much lauded experience in managing a loco. Its always the same problem. To make money you need planes flying, to make planes fly with pax you need ground,crew, engineering crew, cabin crew, and tech crew. Each one of those categories needs to be trained on the planes that make you money and that training costs money and takes time. Management usually stop thinking at the first statement. If JH was indeed the saviour of Virgin then you would think that she would understand the rest but the reality is she doesn't.

As an industry, we are reaping what we have sewed.

Once upon a time this position was revered. When you employ check out chicks and pay peanuts guess what you get........

At J* they are short of cc because the good people at the Victorian Department of Justice employed a lot of experienced cabin managers to run their hotel quarantine. Better money and lifestyle was the reason they left and have stayed away.

Its a simple strategy! Why can’t we in Oz get our acts in order to accomplish this? The ultimate nanny state should be easy to vaccinate!

Hotel quarantine isn't a long term prospective so it's a bit short sighted to give up a perm job for a contract.

That shows you just how crap the job of F/A is.

Big part of it is that our whack job/conspiracy % of the population matches only that of the US.
QLD are already finding that they’re vaccinated everyone over 50 in some parts of FNQ who want to get vaccinated, and it’s sitting waay below 50% of that portion of the population...
These are the same oldies the rest of us have been disproportionately affected by, to protect them up until this point in time.

Time to give the way more vulnerable boomers an ultimatum before we just open up and they roll the dice.

Your assessment is bull****.

Some have taken full time perm contracts in the Public service. Nothing to do with HQ. Many Departments have taken on staff.

70-80k, good promotional opportunities, day hours and a stable job.

The “Like” button.

Is that a serious comment - $70k to $80k ?? That is absolutely **** money. Who gets out of bed for that kind of money??

Entry level jobs in various departments start around that number.

CC wages have never been sky high. Promotional opportunities are quite limited. A extra 20-30k a year just off the bat would be quite helpful to some. 6 figures would be in reach after a few years.

I got half that for the first 10 years in GA. Some years later I now earn 8 times my GA wage today. Gotta start somewhere!

This is from the ABS:
This is from Stats NZ:

You do the maths to work out the annual salary- if you can be bothered getting out of bed.

Correct, I couldn’t be bothered to get out of bed to research posted statistical mathematical drivel provided by a prime Troll. NZ stats, AUS stats, Zimbabwean stats, yada yada yada. I’ve contributed plenty to the aviation industry and continue to do so, but I have enough wealth built up to allow me to sleep as long as I like. But you go right ahead and keep comparing those salary statistics Looky, you never know, one day you might crack your low paid salary cap!

While I think I know where you’re coming from mate, there a hundreds if not thousands of former Airline Pilots who are now getting out of bed for even less.

If you’ve been fortunate or even prudent enough to secure a good retirement from your career, then more power to you.

I hear you Krusty. It was once a respected career choice, to be an airline pilot. But the days of corporate greed, CEO greed and shareholder demands has created an imbalance. Once upon a time an airline could make good money and pay good remuneration for a Pilot, all this at the same time. The two worked hand in hand, almost in a symbiotic relationship, but not anymore. The pendulum has swung away from beneficial pilot/employer relationships to a relationship of distrust and disrespect on both sides. I don’t know if or how this can or will be ever returned. Airline executives need to understand the skills a Pilot and an Engineer (and other good folk) have and treat them as professionals who have spent lots of money and lots of years becoming a necessary and valuable tool in their organisation. Pilots, Engineers and others need to understand a CEO/Board role and how without money and profits there will be no airline. Whoever can solve that conundrum and successfully market it in todays environment will probably become wealthier than that parasite Bill Gates.

There are exceptions
 

I would think DL are an exception to the greedy company takes all and f*&k the front line people, professional pilots and CC.

Still better than a F/A Wage :ok:

Back to Virgin

https://www.smh.com.au/national/virg...17-p57sn2.html

Interesting comment from someone who was complaining that the last company she dealt with didn't have feelings for a vulnerable family member close to her.

Kudos to a CEO not being afraid to say vaccinate the population and open the borders.

Australian Aviation's regurgitation of the SMH article too... Virgin CEO says Australia must open sooner even if ‘some people die’ – Australian Aviation

But if AJ made those comments he would be crucified. Its ok that JH does tho.

Big business safety culture, makes me wonder what other risks she is willing to take in the name of profits.