December

3 December

Jayne Hrdlicka scores an early victory in her tenure as Virgin chief executive after securing a deal with four unions over working terms. The agreement with the TWU, FAAA, ASU and ALAEA will see employees accept an 18-month to two-year pay freeze in exchange for a guarantee that no jobs will be outsourced. “We know we’ve asked a lot of them as a result of the operating environment we find ourselves in, and we are grateful for their understanding and support throughout,” says Hrdlicka. “We have all worked together in a very tight time frame in order to be able to bring certainty to our people prior to the holiday period. We believe the outcome we have achieved working together with the unions will help to create a sustainable future for our airline, and means we can secure more jobs and look to grow again as the aviation market recovers.”

4 December

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce brushes aside Rex’s threat to his business’ market share, arguing the regional airline will be hamstrung by its “limited network” and higher ticket prices. Responding to a question from Australian Aviation on Thursday, Joyce says, “We’re very confident in our relative position and what that means for our market share, which should be above 70 per cent going forward.” Qantas currently estimates it holds around 70 per cent of the market, about 10 per cent more than it did pre-COVID.

9 December

The heavyweight lawyer who helped win the infamous Waterfront dispute files a landmark ‘test case’ against Qantas over its plans to outsource 2,000 ground handling roles. The TWU tasks industrial relations specialist Josh Bornstein with arguing in the Federal Court that the airline’s proposals contravene the Fair Work Act. If successful, a potential ruling could have major ramifications for other businesses hoping to outsource roles. Qantas is likely to strongly contest the action. The business has been adamant it rejected the TWU’s rival bid because it didn’t meet its core objectives, which it cited as reducing the cost of ground handling operations by $100 million and avoiding large spending on equipment.

14 December

New Zealand pledges to drop its border restrictions to Australia in the first quarter of 2021. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she will name the exact date in the new year and added any opening will not take place until contingencies were in place to deal with a future COVID outbreak.

18 December

Victoria’s Health Minister warns residents not to travel to all of Sydney, in an enormous blow for domestic aviation. Martin Foley says the state could soon shift to requiring mandatory quarantine if the outbreak in NSW’s Northern Beaches worsens. On Friday morning, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian revealed there had been 10 new COVID cases, and urged residents to continue to stay at home for the next few days. In response, many states and territories enforce quarantine. However, it is Victoria’s warning that will be the most damaging, as domestic aviation gears up for what should have been its busiest week of the year. Queensland only opened to Greater Sydney on 1 December and NSW to Victoria on 23 November.