New-look Virgin to clear out 350 at Brisbane HQ

Virgin Australia has begun the process of axing 350 head office staff as it strives to carve 3000 jobs from the payroll.

Virgin Australia had expected to be back to 60 per cent capacity by now but is instead operating at 40 per cent. Picture: Joel Carrett/NCA NewsWire

Two weeks after unveiling a new-look executive team, Virgin Australia has begun the process of axing 350 head office staff as the airline strives to carve 3000 jobs from its payroll.

The cuts are expected to be the last as the carrier emerges from administration with a workforce of up to 6000 people.

A Virgin Australia spokeswoman said Brisbane head office and corporate staff were informed of the planned reductions on Wednesday, with consultations to take place over coming months.

“This is the final part of the restructuring we announced in August last year,” she said.

“We are now consulting with our head office and corporate teams on reducing the head office by up to 350 roles. This will align our head office workforce to the current size of our operation.”

She said the airline continued to face a challenging operating environment due to the impact of COVID-19 and state border restrictions.

Despite the expectation Virgin Australia would be operating at above 60 per cent capacity by the end of January, it was instead at only 40 per cent capacity.

“We remain committed to retaining 6000 jobs and further growth when the market recovers,” said the spokeswoman.

“For this to happen, we need consumer confidence in state borders to enable travel demand to return, and international borders to open so we can recommence international flying.”

As hundreds of workers are shown the door, a raft of new executives will start work at Virgin Australia following a major revamp of the management team.

Chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka, who was installed by new owner Bain Capital in the place of Paul Scurrah, has hired a number of former Jetstar alumni to assist her at Virgin.

Of six new appointments, five previously worked with Ms Hrdlicka at Jetstar or Qantas where she was employed from 2012 to 2018.

They include former Qantas chief operating officer Paul Jones, International Airlines Group director of strategy Alistair Hartley, Jetstar Japan CEO Nick Rohrlach, A2Milk Company executive Lisa Burquest and Arnott’s Group vice-president of corporate affairs Moksha Watts.

The only exception is Woolworths chief operating officer David Marr, who will join Virgin as chief financial officer.

Originally published as New-look Virgin to clear out 350 at Brisbane HQ