In the wake of Prime Minister Scott Morrison‘s announcement of level four travel restrictions this morning, Virgin Australia has announced further cuts to its flight schedule.
All international flights will be grounded from March 30 (a reduced schedule will run until then) and 50 per cent of scheduled domestic flights have been cut.
In addition, all services between Melbourne and Los Angeles will be suspended from March 20, and flights from Brisbane to Tokyo, and Melbourne to Denpasar will cease on March 29.
The airline announced the measures in a travel alert this morning.
“We will work closely with the government to prioritise bringing Australians home and returning visitors back to their point of origin,” the statement reads.
Impacted passengers will be contacted by Virgin via email over the next 14 days, but anyone who has booked through a travel agent should liaise with them directly. Due to high call volumes to its customer care line, the airline is urging only customers who have a booking within the next 24 hours to call.
The government today announced a $715 million relief fund intended to ease the growing pressure on Australian airlines.
The suspensions are expected to last until June 14, although this could be extended.
