Virgin Australia has announced they will stand down 8,000 staff and significantly scale back domestic flights amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Virgin Chief Executive Paul Scurrah announced the decision in a statement this morning, acknowledging the difficult circumstances that the global travel industry is currently dealing with.

“There has never been a travel environment in Australia as restricted as the one we see today…. These extraordinary steps we’ve taken have been in response to the federal and state governments’ latest travel advice.”

8,000 represents an 80% cut to the company’s workforce. The 8,000 employees will be stood down until the end of May in an attempt to save jobs in the longer-term.

The announcement came alongside further cuts to their fleet, which will reduce their domestic capacity by 90%. Today’s decision to scale back domestic flights follows an announcement last week that the airline would be suspending all international flights.

The cuts take effect from midnight this Friday (March 27, 2020) and will see around 125 aircraft grounded as a result.

Virgin Australia also announced that their budget carrier, Tigerair, will suspend all flights effective immediately. Similar cuts were announced by Qantas and Jetstar earlier in the week.

“We plan to return Tigerair Australia and Virgin Australia to the skies as soon as it is viable to do so, however I am mindful that how we operate today may look different when we get to the other side of this crisis,” Mr Scurrah said.

Those passengers with domestic flights in the next 48 hours are encouraged to contact the airline’s customer service team on 13 67 89.

If you have difficulty, the company’s COVID-19 announcements page states: “if you are unable to get through to our Guest Contact Centre before your flight depart, you will still receive a travel credit and we’ll waive the change and cancellation fees for you.”

All guests travelling prior to 30 June 2020 may either cancel their booking and receive a travel credit, or change their flights dates via the Manage My Booking page.