September

3 September

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce attacks Rex for accepting $60 million in government handouts and then unveiling plans to expand its network to fly between Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

“That doesn’t feel right,” Joyce says. “That doesn’t seem right. They should not be using government subsidies to fund growth. When we set up Jetstar in 2003, it was $120 million to set up an airline. To set up an airline is quite an expensive thing, so I hope they’ve done their numbers correctly.”

4 September

Rex strongly rejects claims by Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce that it used government handouts to expand its network. The business says Joyce was “misinformed by his advisers” and argues it was impossible to use the COVID-19 payments for improper means because they are “strictly audited” by Ernst & Young.

Meanwhile, The TWU finally urges its members to rubber stamp Bain’s deal to take control of Virgin Australia – but leaves its public announcement until hours before Friday’s vote. National secretary Michael Kaine says he looks forward to working with the group but pointedly warns the investors to seek “co-operation not confrontation” with employees. The deal is later passed, with administrator Vaughan Strawbridge calling the step a “significant milestone”.

Finally, a plan to open all borders in Australia by Christmas is agreed by all states and territories – except Western Australia. Speaking after a meeting of the country’s national cabinet, Prime Minister Morrison pointedly refuses to criticise the decision of WA Premier Mark McGowan.

“Western Australia has a very different border and a very different economy than most of the other states and territories where these decisions have been made,” he says. “Not everyone has to get on the bus for the bus to leave the station. But it is important the bus leaves the station.”

7 September

Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge hints Australia may only open its borders to the world when a vaccine becomes “globally available”. “It’s very difficult to predict when we can reopen the borders probably again. Obviously, if there is a vaccine that is developed which becomes globally available that will be the game-changer,” says Minister Tudge. “You can see that we have all these state border closures now and in part because everyone is nervous about Victoria and probably means it has slowed down our path to being able to open our international borders.”

11 September

The TWU gathers outside Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce’s private home to protest against the airline’s proposal to outsource 2,500 ground handling jobs. After union members addressed the press, they march to Joyce’s apartment block to hand-deliver a letter asking him to immediately halt the potential job cuts. The union’s campaign chief, Emily McMillan, says the dramatic action is necessary because “there’s no way else to communicate with him”.

15 September

Qantas says it’s mulling shifting all its bases to one city, as part of a review into its office space caused by downsizing its workforce. The business says that “anything that can move” is “on the table”, including its facilities in Mascot, Collingwood and Brisbane. Chief financial officer Vanessa Hudson reveals the new Western Sydney Airport is “part of our thinking” and even suggested Qantas is looking for “potential incentives” from states to relocate. “As well as simply rightsizing the amount of space we have, there are opportunities to consolidate some facilities and unlock economies of scale,” Hudson says. “For instance, we could co-locate the Qantas and Jetstar head offices in a single place rather than splitting them across Sydney and Melbourne.”

16 September

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack writes to state premiers urging them to help lift the cap on how many Australians can return home by 50 per cent. Deputy PM McCormack, who is also the Transport Minister, says he is asking NSW, Queensland and WA to accommodate an additional 500 people per week into hotel quarantine and SA an extra 360.

21 September

Dnata announces it is to make around 1,000 workers redundant. Dnata has been unable to claim JobKeeper – which provides struggling Australian businesses with $1,500 per employee, per fortnight – because it’s owned by a “sovereign entity”. Dnata is controlled by the Emirates Group, which is in turn run by the state government of Dubai.

28 September

The last of Qantas’ A380 fleet flies into a Californian desert boneyard. The airline announced months ago that all 12 of its A380s would enter hibernation, with six of those being upgraded beforehand. The Qantas A380, VH-OQI msn 055, departed Dresden maintenance facility in Germany as flight QF6006 at 10:36am on 25 September. It landed at the Victorville, California, facility 11 hours later.

29 September

The Alice Springs boneyard appears to be almost reaching its new expanded capacity of 100 aircraft after the Northern Territory government invested $3.5 million into the site in July. Tom Vincent, managing director of Asia Pacific Aircraft Storage tells the ABC that parking spaces were “definitely in demand”.“As soon as extra spots for storage come online, there are aircraft filling those spots,” Vincent says. In July, the facility was storing 44 aircraft and had already received a $1 million infrastructure grant. This new investment package doubled its workforce and is predicted to inject more than $10 million dollars, directly and indirectly, into the state’s economy. Before the pandemic, APAS was home to just 18 aircraft at any one time.

30 September

Rex announces it’s close to a deal to lease six 737-800 NG aircraft to fly its new network between Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. It’s not known whether these are the same aircraft previously used by Virgin Australia before it took the decision to trim its 737 fleet. The news comes after Rex revealed it was in advanced negotiations with an APAC investment firm to secure $150 million of investment to launch the new domestic network in March 2021.