Virgin Australia Financially Secure? [Now in Voluntary Administration]

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There are reports Virgin has closed its call centre due to a case of coronavirus and customers cannot get in contact with anyone from VA

Cue all sensationalist media sounding the death bells for VA again!
 
Just saw this on Facebook, by coincidence. So one call centre, there are more than one.

I will hold off contacting them to cancel my (Velocity points) bookings on Hawaiian Airlines, first flight Mar 28, 2020.

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When the government support for airlines, banks, insurance etc is being negotiated would be a good time for everyone to have a frank discussion about offshoring critical parts of businesses, payroll taxes and maybe a close look at some other consumer protections. All for the future though once the public health issue is under control. Maybe worth a separate thread?
 
Related I guess to VA troubles, competitor REX have put a trading hold pending an announcement........
 
jamescara said:
Simply hold steady for now. Realistically the points will one day end up with KF anyway, but I’m in no rush to shift as per the above re expiry etc.
Obviously it’s a pretty fluid situation so that could well change, but for now I’m not particularly concerned by holding about 500k with VA and similar with QF.
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Exactly my situation, currently holding 600k with VA and see no sense in running... yet! VA has the cash to ride this out for a while, and no covenants on their bonds, the key will be how quickly they and the industry recover.
 
Currently holding 300K of VA points i decided to transfer half 155K to SQ today to diversify
 
eastwest101 said:
When the government support for airlines, banks, insurance etc is being negotiated would be a good time for everyone to have a frank discussion about offshoring critical parts of businesses, payroll taxes and maybe a close look at some other consumer protections. All for the future though once the public health issue is under control. Maybe worth a separate thread?
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Might be possible to take a stake through the future fund, and as you say put some guarantees that QF at least will become a little more "Australian" focussed for call centres. And perhaps VA can move back to being a purely domestic carrier.
 
p--and--t said:
As someone who had far more than that with Ansett but left with no choices, I can tell you exactly what I would be doing.
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At the end of the day, both airlines will get some form of government relief. BUT both will be expected to come to the party as well. So having deep pockets and friends in high places will be important.

If it gets REALLY bad - doomsday like, we know one airline will be prioritized here in AU for extreme government support and it 100% will not be Virgin Australia. QF could even be forced to operate VA for a while then sell it off. I don't think it will get to that though!
 
Harthagan said:
I'm sitting on 400k. Absolutely kicking myself for not using them up, instead I paid good $$$ to requalify for platinum (fat lot of good it's worth now lol) it's true what they say, loyalty programs are a double edge sword.
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True, though a once in 100 year event for everyone so I would not kick yourself too much - the best infectious disease experts in the world couldn't foresee an imminent pandemic any better than you could, I feel. It is what it is and I guess we will all just have to take the pain.

I consider myself extremely lucky that I am in my late 20s. Even if I lost everything, I am very lucky to still have time to get back on my feet. My feelings very much with the older people as they will struggle much more than I in the coming years.
 
OATEK said:
Might be possible to take a stake through the future fund, and as you say put some guarantees that QF at least will become a little more "Australian" focussed for call centres. And perhaps VA can move back to being a purely domestic carrier.
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This type of investment would not at all fit within the Future Fund's listed equity portfolio. First, they have legislated risk and return targets. Second, they are full outsourced using external managers. The only possibility would be via their private equity portfolio if they were to take some private.
 
At this point I feel like the financial fallout is going to surpass the physical/medical cost by many orders of magnitude. If the thing just instantly wiped out 2% of the population (mainly the weak and elderly) how much impact would we feel from that going forward? I know it's a sobering thought but I feel the current reality will be much more damaging purely because the whole drama is being dragged out.
 
VAHHA trading at $35.

Panic panic panic. It's not really reflecting reality at the moment.
 
Must...Fly! said:
True, though a once in 100 year event for everyone so I would not kick yourself too much - the best infectious disease experts in the world couldn't foresee an imminent pandemic any better than you could, I feel. It is what it is and I guess we will all just have to take the pain.

I consider myself extremely lucky that I am in my late 20s. Even if I lost everything, I am very lucky to still have time to get back on my feet. My feelings very much with the older people as they will struggle much more than I in the coming years.
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Being in a totally different age group to you, and not close to being in the same league in recently years of many AFFers, I too am a bit more philosophical.

I admittedly do chase points, tally them up and and spend an obscene amount of time on working out how to best utilise them. However, I use methods to accumulate the points by means largely where they don't cost me any extra.

I see them as a bonus that gets me a free trip or perk every couple of years. I don't make flights on my own purse for the purpose of gaining some status as it is largely a transitory benefit and companies come and go. (Around 14 airlines ceased operating in 2019). I don't chase status as I have many more important things in my life.

If the points go because I wasn't able to save them in some way, I will be quite disappointed. However, life will go on. My taste for J will likely be downgraded but in the end the destination and what fantastic experiences and sights that await in new places is the end game for me.
 
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eastwest101 said:
When the government support for airlines, banks, insurance etc is being negotiated would be a good time for everyone to have a frank discussion about offshoring critical parts of businesses, payroll taxes and maybe a close look at some other consumer protections. All for the future though once the public health issue is under control. Maybe worth a separate thread?
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While I agree that in some cases offshoring is not a great idea (particularly physical goods when the supply chain breaks down) having geographical spread for non-physical parts of the business actually seems a good idea to me. It's not much more than luck this isn't happening in Australia and indeed could be the case for some companies in the next few weeks.
 
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