Australian Aviation

2 June Virgin Australia’s administrator announces he’s whittled down the four prospective bidders to two: Bain Capital and Cyrus Capital Partners. Deloitte’s Vaughan Strawbridge says both parties “are well-funded, have deep aviation experience, and see real value in the business and its future”. The decision means that private equity firm BGH Capital and US aviation

5 May Catering and ground handling business dnata reveals it’s been excluded from the JobKeeper support package – which provides struggling Australian businesses with $1,500 per employee, per fortnight – because it’s owned by a foreign government. Dnata is owned by the Emirates Group, which is in turn run by the state government of Dubai.

6 April The government announces it’s to supplement a selection of repatriation flights to London, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Auckland, operated by Qantas and Virgin Australia. The news came after three of the major transport hubs facilitating trips, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Singapore, all suspended transit. Meanwhile, Virgin Australia ramps up its lobbying for

2 March NSW Health urges anyone who travelled on the Qatar Airways QR908 flight from Qatar to Sydney to “isolate themselves” and then seek a health assessment if they believe they have symptoms of coronavirus. A woman in her 50s on the flight is confirmed as the state’s sixth case of COVID-19. Crucially, the passenger

1 February Australia follows the US in imposing the same restriction on Chinese visitors. Meanwhile, Qantas announces it will suspend flights to mainland China from 9 February until 29 March. In a statement explaining why there is a week delay before the move came into effect, the carrier says it wants to balance high passenger

On 31 December 2019, Chinese authorities treated a small number of citizens for a mysterious illness in Wuhan. Fast forward to 23 March 2020, and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced an outright ban on all international flights leaving the country. This is the story of how coronavirus took our industry, and the world, by