Debrief

Insights from the world of aviation

Virgin Australia news

Virgin Australia plans to cut 750 head office and corporate jobs as part of efforts to return the airline to profitability. The job losses were announced alongside the airline group’s 2018/19 full year results which showed a statutory net loss of $349.1 million amid higher fuel prices, a weaker Australian dollar and sluggish domestic market. It was the company’s seventh consecutive annual loss.
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Virgin Australia chief executive Paul Scurrah said the full year loss was disappointing and highlighted the need to improve the company’s financial performance. “While we have continued to grow revenue and have a strong loyal customer base, we need to make changes to our costs to ensure we see financial benefit from the growth in our business,” Scurrah said.
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In addition to the job losses, Virgin Australia also planned to restructure its executive leadership team with the aim of bringing the three flying businesses – Virgin Australia, Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (VARA) and low-cost carrier Tigerair Australia – closer together. Under the new structure, Tigerair Australia and VARA would both be run by an executive general manager accountable for the relevant air operator’s certificate and reporting to chief operations officer Stuart Aggs. There were also two new roles: the previously announced position of chief commercial officer and a newly created position of chief experience officer.
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The new structure has led to Tigerair Australia chief executive – and Virgin Australia acting chief commercial officer Merren McArthur – deciding to leave the company. McArthur said in a LinkedIn post it was a difficult decision. “I’ve had a wonderful career journey at Virgin, spanning over 11 years, reporting to 3 Group CEOs and working with amazing people across nearly every part of the business. A highlight of my career has been the past 16 months as CEO of Tigerair, however given this role will no longer exist under the new organisational structure, the time is right to move on,” McArthur said.
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