Frontline staff will have until just 1 November 2021 to receive both doses of their vaccine, while rivals Qantas and Virgin have both given staff until 15 November to receive both jabs.

According to the airport, overall domestic passenger traffic fell to just 25,000 travellers in August 2021, down 72.5 per cent from August 2020, and 98.6 per cent from pre-COVID levels.

The federal government has announced it will give another $184 million to international aviation to tide the sector over until March 2022.

It comes after we earlier reported that US airlines and Emirates were pursuing locked-down Australian pilots and will add to concerns the country could face a staff shortage when flying resumes.