Qantas Reopening Domestic Lounges from 1 July 2020

After being closed for more than three months due to COVID-19 restrictions (and a lack of passengers), Qantas will begin to reopen its Qantas Club and domestic Business class lounges from tomorrow. But the experience will be a little different, with social distancing and other health measures in place. Qantas will initially reopen 11 of its … Continued

Qantas Says Final Goodbye to Boeing 747 after 49 Years

Update: It appears that VH-OEJ, the last Qantas 747, is now scheduled to leave Australia on 22 July. Before this, Qantas will operate 3 domestic joy flights – one each from Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra. Tickets are expected to sell out quickly. The decision to put on the 3 joy flights was made at the last … Continued

Bain Capital to Buy Virgin Australia

The search for a new owner of Virgin Australia is finally over with Bain Capital, a U.S. private investment firm based in Boston, announced as the successful bidder. The other bidder in the running, Cyrus Capital Partners, reportedly withdrew this morning after submitting its final offer last Monday. Virgin’s administrators have now entered into a … Continued

Qantas to Axe 6,000 Jobs, Raise $1.9b Equity

Qantas Airways Limited entered a trading halt on the ASX this morning as CEO Alan Joyce announced a three-year COVID-19 recovery plan that’s harsh but necessary. The cost-cutting and job losses are far greater than those announced in the last major shake-up back in February 2014, when 5,000 jobs were cut. Today, Qantas announced 6,000 permanent … Continued

Velocity to Refund Cancelled Reward Seat Bookings

Velocity Frequent Flyer will finally refund Virgin Australia reward seat bookings that have been cancelled, for travel booked until 30 September 2020. This had already been Velocity’s policy prior to Virgin Australia entering voluntary administration. Throughout April and the first half of May, Velocity always said that it would refund the Velocity points & taxes paid … Continued