Aviation is once again on its knees as airlines cull flights and warn they may return potentially thousands of workers to stand downs in the face of a slow vaccine rollout and significant COVID-19 outbreaks in three states.

It represent a dramatic shift back to the level of uncertainty unseen since the pandemic first plagued the sector early last year – sparking a $2.7 billion loss in the 2020 financial year at Qantas and Virgin’s fall into administration – piling more pressure on the Morrison government to reinstate the JobKeeper wage subsidy.