AIRLINES – AUSTRALIA

Virgin to reward the fully vaxxed

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Original article by Robyn Ironside
The Australian – Page: 15 : 2-Sep-21

Virgin Australia will offer incentives for both staff and customers to get COVID-19 vaccinations. Virgin wants all of its frontline staff to be fully vaccinated by 15 November, and they will be given the opportunity to win prizes such as business-class flights and a holiday on Hamilton Island, as well as extra annual leave. Virgin customers will in turn be offered rewards such as business-class flights and Velocity frequent-flyer points. Winners must have proof of vaccination to claim a prize.

CORPORATES
VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED

Pressure on airlines to vaccinate workers

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Original article by Robyn Ironside
The Australian – Page: 17 : 20-Aug-21

Alliance Aviation’s Scott McMillan expects more airlines to adopt a policy of mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for their employees. Alliance will require all staff and contractors to be vaccinated by 15 November; Qantas recently announced that it will also enforce a ‘no jab, no job’ policy. Michael Tooma, the managing partner of law firm Clyde & Co, says that mandatory vaccination is a "lawful and reasonable direction" for sectors such as aviation under occupational health and safety laws. He agrees that other airlines are likely to implement such a policy.

CORPORATES
ALLIANCE AVIATION SERVICES LIMITED – ASX AQZ, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, CLYDE AND COMPANY LLP

Get vaxxed or leave, Qantas chief warns

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Original article by Robyn Ironside
The Australian – Page: 13 & 17 : 19-Aug-21

Qantas is the latest Australian company – and the largest so far – to require mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for its staff. CEO Alan Joyce contends that vaccination is necessary for the safety of the airline’s employees, customers and the destinations to which it flies. Joyce has advised that all frontline staff must be vaccinated by 15 November, and he has warned that those who do not have valid medical grounds for refusing a vaccination will need to look at career options in other industries. A survey of Qantas employees has found that 75 per cent of them support mandatory vaccination.

CORPORATES
QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN

International airlines may be forced to suspend flights to Australia after arrival cap halved

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Original article by Matilda Boseley, Royce Kurmelovs
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 5-Jul-21

National cabinet recently agreed to reduce the number of international arrivals from 6,070 to 3,035 a week, with the cuts to take effect as from 14 July. Board of Airline Representatives executive director Barry Abrams says the cuts will make it hard for international airlines to maintain their current frequency of flights to Australia, while he has rejected suggestions airlines are trying to take advantage of the cut in arrivals by price gouging.

CORPORATES
BOARD OF AIRLINE REPRESENTATIVES OF AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED

Virgin to give away business-class flights

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Original article by Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 24-Jun-21

Virgin Australia has announced it will give away free business class flights and Velocity frequent flyer points to encourage passengers to get vaccinated against COVID-19. It will also be encouraging its staff to get vaccinated, offering them flexible work arrangements to help them make appointments, along with extra annual leave, lounge memberships and business class flights. Sixty-five per cent of its flight crews and airport teams have been vaccinated against COVID-19, while 58 per cent of its corporate teams are already vaccinated or have made an appointment.

CORPORATES
VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED

Jobs lost as Qantas earnings nosedive

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Original article by Robyn Ironside
The Australian – Page: 13 & 20 : 21-May-21

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said on 20 May that it had lost $16 billion of revenue since early 2020, and that it was likely to post a full-year loss of over $2 billion. The airline will be making more staff redundant, while imposing a two-year wage freeze on management and staff. Joyce called for Australia’s COVID-19 vaccination to be accelerated so that Australia’s international borders can be opened "sooner than later", but only when it is "safe to do so". Unions were not impressed with the airline’s wage freeze plan, while Transport Workers Union secretary Michael Kaine queried why the federal government still kept giving Qantas financial help when it continues to cut jobs.

CORPORATES
QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, TRANSPORT WORKERS’ UNION

Rex flights bump into Sydney Airport hurdle

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Original article by Jenny Wiggins
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 22 : 1-Mar-21

Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert says Regional Express (Rex) may find it hard to secure more landing and take-off slots if its new flights between east coast capital cities become popular with consumers. Culbert says Rex cannot secure access to any slots held at the airport by incumbents prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, due to waivers introduced by the federal government when the pandemic began. Sydney Airport stated in a submission in December to an inquiry on the future of aviation that the waivers could impede new entrants to the aviation market.

CORPORATES
SYDNEY AIRPORT – ASX SYD, REGIONAL EXPRESS HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX REX

Qantas plans US, UK flights for July, subject to borders, vaccines

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Original article by Karen Sweeney
The New Daily – Page: Online : 6-Jan-21

Qantas has begun selling tickets for overseas flights for as early as July, despite increased COVID-19 rates overseas. A Qantas spokesman noted that the resumption of international flights was dependent on vaccine rollouts and border reopenings, while Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack has observed that it will be the government that decides when international travel can resume; he noted the government is working on travel arrangements with countries that have low infection rates.

CORPORATES
QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN

Australian travel reboot off to a flying start

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Original article by Robyn Ironside
The Australian – Page: 5 : 23-Nov-20

Melbourne Airport CEO Lyell Strambi says he is very excited about the reopening of the New South Wales border to Victoria, with flights between Melbourne and Sydney increasing from just four a day to 42. Strambi says Melbourne Airport will reach around 33 per cent of its normal activity level in December, having been down to less than one per cent at one point. Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce says the reopening of the NSW-Victoria border is a "big milestone in Australia opening back up", while Virgin Australia pilot Robert Ricketts undertook his first flight since May on 22 November.

CORPORATES
MELBOURNE AIRPORT, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED

Qantas lodges JobKeeper appeal

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 15-Oct-20

Qantas will appeal the Federal Court’s recent ruling that the airline has misused the JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme. Lawyers have warned that the court’s ruling has implications for all businesses that pay employees in arrears. The Business Council of Australia and the Council of Small Business Organisations are among the employers’ groups that will lobby the federal government to fix the anomaly, which arises if a business has a different pay cycle to that of JobKeeper’s fortnightly pay cycle.

CORPORATES
QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, COUNCIL OF SMALL BUSINESS ORGANISATIONS OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY