Category Archives: Virgin Australia

Virgin Australia delays vote on controversial enterprise agreement that would cut pilots’ days off

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Exclusive: Last-minute decision comes as Civil Aviation Safety Authority says it is ‘engaging’ with airline on concerns rostering is leaving pilots fatigued

Virgin Australia has made a last-minute decision to delay putting a controversial pilots’ enterprise deal to vote, after outcry about its plan to cut days off and concerns that pilot rostering was nearing unsafe limits.

The decision comes as Civil Aviation Safety Authority (Casa) officials flagged they were aware of fatigue concerns over Virgin Australia’s pilot rostering after the Guardian revealed internal disquiet on the issue among senior pilots and frustration at what they felt was an inadequate response from management.

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‘Rostering to the limits’: senior Virgin Australia pilots raise safety concerns over fatigue

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Exclusive: Correspondence from pilots seen by Guardian Australia pleads for changes to the roster system to address fatigue

Senior pilots at Virgin Australia have alleged fatigue is widespread in their ranks and raised safety concerns about a roster system some claim is working them “to the limits”.

As Virgin Australia and the Transport Workers Union (TWU) remain in a standoff over a proposal to strip pilots of six days off a year in negotiations for a new enterprise agreement, Guardian Australia has obtained correspondence from senior pilots pleading for action to address worker fatigue.

Multiple senior pilots say the rostering system used by Virgin is adding to fatigue levels.

The system routinely schedules pilots to work maximum shift lengths – 11-12 hours and longer in the event of delays – on back-to-back days, while allowing for just the legal minimum rest period of 12 hours.

Pilots have raised concerns with management about the roster software and claim that the private equity owners of the airline, Bain Capital, have not followed through on a promise to replace it.

Frustration at what they claim is management’s failure to recognise these issues, or respond to staff warning of a resulting “clear, present and increasing safety risk”.

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Virgin Australia CEO Jayne Hrdlicka steps down after nearly four years in top role

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Hrdlicka’s abrupt departure comes as airline’s owners plan to push ahead with relisting on stock exchange

Virgin Australia’s chief executive, Jayne Hrdlicka, has abruptly stepped down after almost four years in charge, raising questions about the timing of the airline’s much-hyped relisting on the stock exchange.

On Tuesday, the airline announced that Hrdlicka had the support of the Virgin Australia board in deciding to “the time was right” to move on. She will stay on as chief executive while a global search for her replacement begins.

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Australia news live: only 54.3% of Virgin flights and 66.3% of Qantas flights on time last month, transport minister says

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‘Very disappointing results, it is no wonder that so many Australians remain fed up with our major airlines,’ Catherine King says. Follow today’s news updates live

‘Very, very clear’ renewables are the cheapest form of energy, Bowen says

Renewable energy is the cheapest form of energy, including its storage and transmission costs, the energy minister told ABC RN.

Its conclusions this year are unimpeachable and very, very clear.

The cheapest form of energy is renewable energy, even including the costs that go with renewable energy around storage and transmission.

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Two in five Australians had flight cancelled or delayed over 12 months, survey says

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Choice poll also finds less than half of all flight refunds are received within a month as government considers additional regulation

Less than half of Australians who seek a refund for a cancelled flight receive it within a month while one-fifth of those seeking a refund wait more than six months, a poll has found, as the government considers a compensation scheme and a passenger bill of rights.

The consumer advocate Choice also found, in a survey of about 9,000 Australians, that two in five respondents had a flight cancelled or delayed in the 12 months between October 2022 and this year.

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‘Poverty pay’: travellers may soon face airport disruption as Virgin Australia crew close in on striking

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Transport Workers Union chief says ground crew and pilots fear ‘mistakes being made due to their unsustainable working conditions’

Travellers could be hit with unexpected disruptions as Virgin Australia’s cabin crew and ground workers close in on strike action over claims of “poverty pay” and “unsustainable” conditions.

On Monday, the Virgin cabin crew members of the Transport Workers Union (TWU) will apply to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) for a protected action ballot, which, if granted, means they can vote to take industrial action that they have been threatening to do over claims of “poverty pay, job insecurity and unsafe conditions”.

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Head of Australia’s competition watchdog calls for new mandate to police airline industry

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Exclusive: Gina Cass-Gottlieb says ACCC needs greater powers to help new entrants compete with Qantas and Virgin

The head of the competition watchdog has called for a fresh mandate from the Albanese government to monitor the airline industry and help new entrants compete with established players Qantas and Virgin.

The chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, said the regulator sees “a case” for a mandate to look into competition, prices and industry practices after an earlier direction expired in June.

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Australia agrees to clear-the-air talks with Qatar over controversial airline decision

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Exclusive: Comes after heated Senate inquiry hearings told application for extra flights by the Gulf had been “unfairly rejected”

Australian bureaucrats will schedule a meeting with Qatari officials to discuss the Albanese government’s controversial decision to reject Qatar Airways’ request to almost double its flight operations to Australia.

Senate inquiry hearings this week revealed that the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority (QCAA) – which lodged the request for an additional 28 weekly flights to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth – had requested consultations with the Australian department of infrastructure and transport.

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Former Qantas boss Alan Joyce to front Senate inquiry into blocked Qatar Airways flights

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Transport minister Catherine King revealed in question time on Wednesday that she spoke with Virgin Australia before blocking the request

Former Qantas boss Alan Joyce will be called to front a Senate inquiry over his discussions with the federal government in the lead up to a ruling that blocked competitor airlines from offering more flights.

Other witnesses to be invited to give their side of the story include Joyce’s successor, Vanessa Hudson, along with officials from Qatar Airways, Virgin Australia and regional airline, Rex.

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Qantas flight credits: Albanese says customers should get another flight or their money back

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PM weighs in on expiring credits but government defends blocking Qatar airways from increasing its flights to Australia

The Australian government has defended its decision to block Qatar airways from almost doubling its flights to Australia, but has distanced itself from Qantas by insisting the national airline should compensate customers for pandemic flight credits.

On Tuesday Prime Minister Anthony Albanese responded to consumer anger about $470m of unclaimed Qantas and Jetstar flight credits, and the assistant minister for competition, Andrew Leigh, called for the introduction of more low-cost carriers to bring prices down.

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Australian airlines push back on calls to compensate passengers for delays and cancellations

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Exclusive: Companies say a compensation scheme like the EU’s would drive up air fares in Australia

Australian airlines are pushing back against calls for new laws that would force them to pay cash compensation to passengers whose flights are delayed or cancelled, with claims it would force carriers to preemptively raise air fares to fund payouts.

The resistance follows the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, consumer advocate Choice and the Australian Lawyers Alliance all separately raising the prospect of a compensation scheme to rein in airlines arbitrarily changing their schedules, as the government considers its aviation white paper.

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Qantas confident its post-Covid operations will settle into a new normal within weeks

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Despite backlash from customers and calls for CEO Alan Joyce to resign, airline has ‘a lot of confidence’ for September school holidays

Qantas has vowed its operations will settle into a new post-Covid normal within weeks after months of customer complaints over flight cancellations and lost baggage.

The Qantas group executive of associated airlines and services, John Gissing, told the Centre for Aviation summit in Adelaide the airline had “a lot of confidence” going into the September school holidays.

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Dozens of flights cancelled at Sydney and Melbourne airports as industry struggles with staff shortages

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Multiple airlines experience delays due to crew absences while Qantas technical glitch left passengers waiting for hours

Widespread flight cancellations across multiple airlines have frustrated travellers at Sydney and Melbourne airports on Monday, as the industry grapples with staffing shortages as well as a technology glitch that affected Qantas flights on Sunday.

Across Qantas, Virgin Australia, Jetstar and Rex, 23 domestic flights were cancelled out of Sydney airport on Monday.

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Airport chaos disrupts holiday plans of hundreds of thousands of Australians

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Technical issues, wet weather, school holidays and staff shortages blamed for long queues

As airport queues stretched out the door on Saturday wreaking havoc on the holiday plans of hundreds of thousands of travellers, Sydney airport said people arriving too far in advance for their flight was exacerbating problems caused by wet weather, school holidays and continuing staff shortages.

In Sydney, Guardian Australia understands there were technical issues with luggage check-in systems across several domestic airlines on Friday and Saturday, which have contributed to long queues at baggage drops.

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