October

2 October

New Zealanders will be able to fly into NSW and the NT without quarantine from 16 October as part of the first stage of the long-planned trans-Tasman bubble. Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack says the arrangement will only operate one-way at first but that the ball is “very much in [NZ Prime Minister Jacinda] Ardern’s court” to make it a two-way arrangement. “Having spoken to [Qantas CEO] Alan Joyce and [Virgin CEO] Paul Scurrah this morning, they are very, very pleased with these arrangements and want to see planes back in the air across the Tasman,” says the Deputy PM.

6 October

Sir Richard Branson closes in on finalising a deal to retake control of 5 per cent of the reborn Virgin Australia, according to reports. Reports even suggest that Sir Richard is pushing for a bigger stake of 10 per cent, which will seemingly include access to the Virgin branding, too. The news came alongside a confirmation by the state of Queensland that it will sign a 10-year deal to acquire around 2 per cent of the company, which will ensure it retains its base in Brisbane.

12 October

A Qantas ‘flight to nowhere’ tours Australia with Captain Alex Passerini dipping as low as 4,000 feet as he flew past landmarks such as the Great Barrier Reef, over the Whitsundays and Uluru. The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, VH-ZND msn 63390, departed Sydney at 10:43am on 12 October for the sold-out, eight-and-a-half-hour journey. The ‘Great Southern Land’ scenic flight initially flew up the NSW coast before crossing the Queensland border for a flyby of the Gold Coast and then up the Queensland coast to the Great Barrier Reef. The 787-9, which features the biggest windows on Qantas’ fleet, then tracked across Australia to conduct low-level fly-bys of Uluru and Kata Tjuta before turning back to Sydney for a flyover of Sydney Harbour and Bondi Beach. Flight QF787 finally landed at 7:09pm.

13 October

Queensland’s decision to reshut its border to NSW has bizarrely caused Brisbane to surge past Sydney and handle more than twice as many passengers per month as its larger rival.l. The knock-on effect of Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s restrictions meant Brisbane clocked up 324,188 total passengers in August versus Sydney’s 129,000. Significantly, the Queensland capital’s numbers were down only slightly from July (358,537) whereas the NSW capital’s collapsed 60 per cent (from 317,000).

14 October

The TWU sensationally suspends negotiations with Virgin Australia over new working terms for its members until it receives clarification that chief executive Paul Scurrah will not be fired. The union scraps a scheduled meeting at midday on Wednesday and writes a letter to new owners Bain Capital seeking “clarification” on the situation. However, Scurrah himself dismisses the rumours and adds that they’ve been ongoing for quite a while.

15 October

Virgin Australia confirms union nemesis Jayne Hrdlicka will become the business’ new chief executive after Paul Scurrah resigned. However, administrators Deloitte are quick to argue Scurrah’s exit will not see the airline become a low-cost carrier, and will continue with plans to operate as a ‘hybrid’ instead. The handover will take place in early November, when the formalities of Virgin’s sale to Bain are completed. The news comes despite Scurrah telling the Australian Aviation Podcast just weeks ago that Bain was “a really good owner” and that the relationship between the investors and the existing management team was like “a good marriage”.

Meanwhile, New Virgin owner Bain says it appointed Hrdlicka because she will provide a “different form of leadership to survive”. “We need a hands-on CEO with deep aviation, commercial, operational and transformation experience,” says Bain Capital managing director Mike Murphy in a statement. “She has extensive airline experience and I know she, alongside Bain Capital, wants nothing more than to see Virgin Australia prosper and thrive well into the future.”

Finally, the TWU says it has “serious concerns about the future of Virgin” and lashes out at its “background shenanigans”.

21 October

Queensland and WA’s border closures cause Brisbane-Cairns and Perth-Broome to become the two most popular Qantas routes in the country during the recent school holidays. Pre-COVID, the three busiest domestic routes were between the so-called ‘Golden Triangle’ of flights between Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Queensland opened up to NSW on 10 July but then closed to Sydney again on 1 August, while the NSW-Victoria border shut for the first time on 6 July and the WA border has remained closed to all other states since the start of the crisis.

23 October

The first of Qantas’ second batch of government-supplemented repatriation flights departs London on Thursday bound for the Howard Springs quarantine facility. The flight carries around 175 passengers, all of whom pay $2,000 for a ticket alongside a $2,500 charge for the time spent in isolation. The flight comes just a week after the government announced it is to increase the capacity of the NT’s quarantine facility and charter a new round of repatriation flights from both London and India. Thousands of Australians in the UK have argued they are struggling to book flights home due to ‘arrival caps’ reducing availability and increasing prices.

26 October

The TWU announces it will resume negotiations with Virgin over working terms after suspending talks the day before Paul Scurrah apparently resigned as chief executive. National secretary Michael Kaine says the organisation, and other unions, will go back to the table with new owner Bain after receiving information “reconfirming” the carrier’s plan to become a mid-market hybrid and not a low-cost carrier.

27 October

It emerges Qatari authorities forced 13 Australian women to remove their underwear for a genital examination at Doha’s Hamad International Airport against their consent. The invasive procedure, which took place on 2 October, was apparently carried out because staff found a premature baby abandoned in a bathroom. In response, the Australian government says it has formally registered “serious concerns” with Qatari authorities over the incident that witnesses say subsequently left women in tears.

The state of Qatar effectively owns both Hamad Airport and the flag carrier, Qatar Airways. In June, Australian Aviation reported how Qatar Airways’ share of passengers travelling to and from Australia leapt from just 3 per cent to 44.5 per cent in April. The jump meant the carrier, owned by the namesake state, was by far the biggest in terms of passengers carried.

Later, one of the women subject to the invasive search reveals authorities locked the ambulance door before telling her to undress. The passenger, who spoke anonymously to the ABC on Monday, says, “Everyone had gone white and was shaking. I was very scared at that point, I didn’t know what the possibilities were. When I got in there, and there was a lady with a mask on and then the authorities closed the ambulance behind me and locked it. They never explained anything. She told me to pull my pants down and that [she] needed to examine my vagina. I said ‘I’m not doing that’ and she did not explain anything to me. She just kept saying, ‘We need to see it, we need to see it’.”

The woman continues that she was eventually let out of the ambulance and ran over to the other girls but added there was “nowhere for me to run”. She eventually removed her clothes and was inspected, and touched, by a female nurse.

28 October

The state of Qatar finally apologises for any “distress or infringement” felt by women forced to undergo a genital examination at Doha’s Hamad Airport. However, the statement comes three days after the story was revealed publicly and almost one month after the incident itself occurred on 2 October. The Qatari government says in a statement the baby was rescued from “what appeared to be a shocking and appalling attempt to kill her”.

“This was the first instance of an abandoned infant being discovered in such a condition at HIA [Hamad Airport] – this egregious and life-threatening violation of the law triggered an immediate search for the parents, including on flights in the vicinity of where the newborn was found,” reads the statement.

“While the aim of the urgently-decided search was to prevent the perpetrators of the horrible crime from escaping, the State of Qatar regrets any distress or infringement on the personal freedoms of any traveller caused by this action. His Excellency Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior of the State of Qatar has directed that a comprehensive, transparent investigation into the incident be conducted.

“The results of the investigation will be shared with our international partners. The State of Qatar remains committed to ensuring the safety, security and comfort of all travellers transiting through the country.”