March

5 March

NSW safety watchdog says that Qantas’ cleaning standards are so poor they could put passengers and staff at risk of catching COVID-19. An inspection note obtained by the Sydney Morning Herald noted how cleaners were wiping tray tables without disinfectant and performing tasks such as handling soiled nappies and dirty tissues without wearing “protective equipment” for “the majority of these tasks”. SafeWork NSW issues Qantas with an “improvement notice” and orders the airline to develop a new system specifically to deal with COVID-19.

6 March

Qantas shares drop 8 per cent, trading at $4.68, a three-year low. The news comes after the airline announces a raft of cuts to its service, including flights to Hong Kong, Auckland, Tokyo and Osaka. Qantas says in a statement, “The coronavirus situation and its impact on international travel demand is evolving, and we’re monitoring closely. Further changes are expected.”

7 March

Virgin Australia doubles down on its commitment to launching a new Brisbane to Tokyo Haneda route on 29 March, despite the coronavirus outbreak rapidly gathering pace. Chief executive Paul Scurrah says the flights are “a real milestone both for Virgin Australia and Queensland, as we become the first airline to connect Brisbane to the closest and most convenient airport in Tokyo”.

9 March

Italy becomes the first European country to enter a nationwide lockdown after 9,172 people test positive for COVID-19, and the death toll rises to 463. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte says Italians will require permission to move around the country for work, health or extenuating circumstances. All sporting events and outdoor gatherings are now forbidden, and a 6pm curfew on bars, initially only in place for northern regions, is extended to the whole country. “All forms of gathering in public places or sites open to the public” are forbidden.

Closer to home, the ASX suffers its worst day of trading since the global financial crisis, with Virgin shares limping to a record low of just $0.075 and Qantas dropping to $4.15. In total, $136.5 billion is wiped off the index’s $1.87 trillion value. On the same day, Australian Aviation reports how Qantas passengers are forced to wait two hours to speak to customer service staff as many rush to cancel or move flights.

10 March

President Trump tweets, “Last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!”

11 March

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says all foreign nationals will no longer be allowed to enter Australia if they have visited Italy in the last 14 days. Those that do come back will have to self-isolate. On the same day, PM Morrison unveils a $2.4 billion health fund to help tackle the fallout from the epidemic. In the US, President Trump makes a prime-time address from the Oval Office to tell citizens he is banning travellers from the EU for 30 days.

12 March

Virgin Australia’s chief executive Paul Scurrah reassures worried passengers that all of the airline’s aircraft are equipped with face masks and hand sanitisers. He insists planes are cleaned every 24 hours and that crew are trained in “cough etiquette”.

13 March

Virgin Australia announces it will not hire new staff and will increase capacity cuts by 7.7 per cent for the first half of the next financial year. However, Scurrah reassures stakeholders that, “As a largely domestic airline, we are less exposed to the impact on international travel. It’s worth noting that domestic operations account for 88 per cent of our passengers and 78 per cent of our flight revenue.”

Separately, Scott Morrison tells Australians to reconsider overseas travel and only make “essential” international trips. More strikingly, he bans gatherings of more than 500 people from the following Monday, excluding schools, universities, schools and transport. He faces criticism for saying that, before the ban is enacted, he will watch the Cronulla Sharks NRL game on the weekend.

14 March

The Melbourne F1 Grand Prix is called off despite earlier assurances and the larger event getting underway. The move follows McLaren team members testing positive for COVID-19.

15 March

Spain follows Italy in imposing a nationwide lockdown, as cases in the country hit 7,753, with 288 deaths. Residents are ordered to stay at home and are only allowed out to buy food or medicine or travel to work. Some flights from the UK to Spain turn around in mid-air.

16 March

President Trump imposes a 15-day restriction on Americans to slow the spread of coronavirus, including closing schools and avoiding groups of more than 10 people, discretionary travel, bars, restaurants and food courts. “If everyone makes this change or these critical changes and sacrifices now,” President Trump says, “we will rally together as one nation, and we will defeat the virus, and we’re going to have a big celebration all together.”

Qantas announces more cuts to its flying schedule after Scott Morrison urges anyone arriving in Australia, from any country to self-isolate for 14 days. Wings over Illawarra, one of the nation’s biggest air shows, is postponed.

17 March

The Qantas Group announces it will cut 90 per cent of international capacity and 60 per cent of domestic until the end of May. The reductions include the grounding of 150 aircraft, almost all of its wide-body fleet. In a sombre message, the airline hints it’s shifting towards helping the national effort to keep the economy moving during the coronavirus crisis, with passenger jets now carrying cargo. Qantas says, “Despite the deep cuts, the national carrier’s critical role in transporting people and goods on key international [and] domestic routes will be maintained.”

France imposes a nationwide lockdown, prohibiting gatherings of any size and postponing the second round of elections. News organisations deem it the most stringent in Europe. Officials warn that even meeting a friend on the street or in a park will be punishable with a fine. France now has 6,500 infections and more than 140 deaths. The European Union votes to close at least 26 countries to nearly all visitors from the rest of the world for at least 30 days.

18 March

Prime Minister Scott Morrison lifts the country’s travel restrictions to a level 4, the highest, advising Australians not to leave the country. “That is the first time that has ever happened in Australia’s history,” he says. “The travel advice to every Australian is, ‘Do not travel abroad. Do not go overseas.’ That is a very clear instruction. For those who are thinking of going overseas in the school holidays, don’t. Don’t go overseas.”

Virgin Australia Group suspends all international flights from 30 March to 14 June, and reduces domestic capacity by 50 per cent for the same period. The cuts are the equivalent of grounding 53 aircraft. Nationally, the federal government announces that $715 million in fees and industry levies will be waived for Australian airlines.

19 March

The Qantas Group announces it’s to effectively suspend two-thirds of its employees and cancel all international flights from late March. Around 20,000 staff are “stood down”, but chief executive Alan Joyce says he is negotiating with Woolworths to see if they can be temporarily relocated there. He says in a statement, “The efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus have led to a huge drop in travel demand, the likes of which we have never seen before. This is having a devastating impact on all airlines.”

19 March

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announces that all non-residents and citizens are banned from entering Australia. He claims 80 per cent of current coronavirus cases are as a result of someone who has contracted the disease from overseas or a contact of theirs. He also pledges to continue trying to get all Australians from around the world home.

20 March

New York’s Governor, Andrew Cuomo, says all non-essential businesses must close and all non-essential members of the workforce must stay at home. “This is the most drastic action we can take,” he says. “We’re going to close the valve because the rate of increase in the number of cases portends a total overwhelming of our hospital system.” Confirmed cases in the city climb to more than 7,000.

Alan Joyce follows PM Morrison’s announcement by pledging to do everything he can to bring stranded citizens home: “We’re just going through those details with the government at the moment. There could be some international operations that will go past the end of March.” He also uses a number of interviews to urge the government not to nationalise rival Virgin Australia. Joyce says, “It would be completely unfair to our sector. We’d be competing against the Australian government. Qantas couldn’t do that, it would be an unbalanced, uncompetitive environment.”

23 March

Prime Minister Morrison now effectively bans anyone from leaving the country, except for a few specific exemptions. More dramatically, he puts the country in a partial lockdown by announcing the outright closure of social venues such as pubs, clubs, restaurants and cinemas. Speaking in Parliament, he says, “We summon the spirit of the Anzacs, of our Great Depression generation, of those who built the Snowy, of those who won the great peace of World War II and defended Australia. For many, young and old, 2020 will be the toughest year of our lives.”

23 March

Rex delivers an ultimatum to the government to underwrite its losses, or else the airline will stop most of its services. Rex’s deputy chairman, John Sharp, argues the previous package of help is not enough, saying, “The federal government has acted swiftly by promising a rescue package to the airlines of $715 million. However, the direct benefit to Rex from this package is only $1 million a month, which is grossly insufficient to cover the $10 million a month we expect to lose running the heavily reduced schedule we announced last week.” He adds that “local councils are also a true disappointment”.

25 March

Virgin Australia cuts domestic capacity by 90 per cent and follows Qantas in standing down 8,000 workers. Around 125 aircraft are grounded and Tigerair suspends all flights immediately. Chief executive Paul Scurrah says, “We are talking to our teams and we are working hard to do what we can to protect jobs and extend payments for as long as possible.”

26 March

Eight regional airlines warn they could go out of business in “days rather than weeks” unless the government moves to underwrite Australia’s small airline operators. In a dramatic open letter, the consortium warns that an announcement of help needs to happen in 24 hours’ time.

The email, sent by Newcastle carrier FlyPelican, stated, “The government, while repeatedly proclaiming the importance of protecting regional aviation as a vital resource for growing the economy, appears, instead, to have wiped its hand of the industry at what is its most critical time.” Carriers signing the letter included Air Link, Aviair, Alliance Airlines, Chartair, Fly Corporate, FlyPelican, Hardy Aviation and Sharp Airlines.

Meanwhile, Flight Centre Travel Group announces that 3,800 sales and support employees will be either stood down or made redundant in Australia, and Virgin follows the previous day’s announcement by revealing that 1,000 of its 8,000 stood down employees permanently redundant, including all 220 Tigerair pilots. One cabin supervisor, Cassy, goes viral after delivering a pitch-perfect farewell speech to her staff and crew as her aircraft was about to land. “Tough times don’t last,” she signed off, “but tough people do.”

27 March

Rex says it may not be able to transport COVID-19 testing samples from regional areas to capital cities for analysis unless it receives a government bailout. Australia’s largest independent airline says it will announce the “shutting down of its network” later that day if it doesn’t receive “concrete proposals” of financial aid.

John Sharp says, “The federal, state and local governments all need to act urgently and decisively to determine specific assistance packages so that the airlines can at least provide the bare minimum of essential air services to keep the communities running. “For example, Rex carries critical blood supplies daily to regional and remote communities on its network, as well as transporting COVID-19 testing samples from regional centres to capital cities for analysis. This may no longer be possible in the foreseeable future.”

With international flights trickling to a halt, Qatar Airways surprisingly announces it will add an extra 48,000 seats on services from Doha to Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane from 29 March until mid-April. The airline says it has put on the extra capacity to help bring people home, and includes its first-ever flights to Brisbane. Qatar is able to make the move after the Australian government relaxed a long-standing treaty that limited the number of services it could provide.

Finally, on 27 March, the government announces that passengers landing in Australia will now be transferred from arrivals to a hotel to complete their 14-day isolation period – with the Defence Force checking people comply with the measures. Prime Minister Scott Morrison made the announcement because 85 per cent of cases of coronavirus are directly or indirectly acquired from overseas. Under the previous rules, people went back to their homes and signed a declaration committing to not leaving for two weeks.

28 March

The government announces a $298 million government bailout for the regional airline industry. Rex says the business has the “utmost gratitude” for the financial package, which will allow it to keep a revised schedule operating for six months. Sharp indicates that, without the aid, it would have stood down 90 per cent of its workforce. “All regional communities and residents should be extremely grateful to the Coalition government for its commitment to the future of the regional cities,” Sharp says. “This meaningful assistance package not only seeks to keep essential air services going, but also tries to prevent the existing regional aviation providers from collapsing.”