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Airlines Get JobKeeper Style Extension, But Don't Call It JobKeeper

A week on from the federal government's media-fuelled $1.2 billion support package announcement, Qantas has shared details of the $500 a week “direct support payment” its employees will receive at a company meeting in Sydney.

A week on from the federal government’s media-fuelled $1.2 billion support package announcement, Qantas has shared details of the $500 a week “direct support payment” its employees will receive at a company meeting in Sydney.

As part of the tourism and aviation support package announced last Thursday, around 8600 Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia airline employees who have been stood down because of international border closures will receive a seven-month extension of essentially JobKeeper until the end of October.

But don’t call it that. Officially, it’s a “direct support payment”.

The generous government package for Australian airlines also includes support to cover and activate aircraft including A330s, Boeing 787s and 737s through training for pilots and crews to ensure their safe and speedy return to service as capacity scales up and borders reopen.

Qantas and Jetstar have around 7500 workers from their international operations who are likely to be paid the $500 per week figure, with 1100 Virgin Australia employees also eligible.

As reported by The Australian, Only Australian-based employees who have been stood down due to no international flying are expected to be eligible for the payments which will continue until borders reopen, potentially in late October.

The outgoing cost of the federal government payments for 7500 Qantas workers over seven months will run to around an estimated $112 million alone.

Alan-Joyce_Qantas
Alan Joyce, CEO, Qantas Group

Speaking at the event, Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce described the allowance as the “centrepiece” of the federal government’s $1.2 billion aviation support package designed to help airlines survive until the COVID vaccine rollout is complete in October.

On top of all Australian borders now being open for travel, It’s clearly wonderful news for our aviation sector and echoes the response to last weeks initial announcement.

Virgin Australia CEO Jayne Hrdlicka said this and other government measures announced last Thursday were “smart” and well-targeted and would deliver an economic boost.

Virgin Australia
Jayne Hrdlicka, Virgin Australia CEO

“To be in the position where we can safely encourage and promote domestic travel puts us at the envy of the rest of the world,” she said in a statement last week.

Virgin is currently operating at 50 per cent of its pre-pandemic capacity but now expects this to ramp up to 70 per cent by Easter. All of Virgin Australia’s domestic lounges have also now reopened in anticipation of a return to the skies.

And as if it couldn’t get any better for our domestic carriers in terms of a reset, the 800,000 taxpayer-subsidised ‘half-price’ fares on 15 routes within Australia will also go on sale from April 1 and have reportedly already seen more direct traffic to airlines’ websites.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) report said that Australians looking for cheap flights are already benefiting from Rex’s entry into the domestic market after Jetstar and Virgin cut prices in response.