Prime Minister Scott Morrison has advised Australians to avoid “non-essential” overseas travel, in a huge blow to the aviation industry.

Virgin Australia will not hire new staff and has increased capacity cuts to 7.7 per cent for the first half of the next financial year. In the latest measure to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus crisis, the airline has also stopped bonuses, trimmed marketing spend and will reduce chairman and board director fees by

Virgin Australia’s CEO has reassured passengers that all the airline’s aircraft are equipped with face masks and hand sanitisers, in light of coronavirus fears. 

The worst day of trading on the ASX since the global financial crash saw Virgin shares limp to an all-time low of 0.075 and Qantas drop to 4.15 – down from 7.40 in December.