Elizabeth Knight and Rob Harris, in The Age, 21 March 2020, with this title ‘Constant shock syndrome’: How the crisis plays out in Qantas and Virgin’s situation rooms’
Sunday March 15, 2020, 2.15pm will be marked in the diaries of Australian airline executives as a pivotal moment. It was the moment when the Australian government dropped the bombshell that all international travellers landing on our shores would be subject to a 14-day quarantine. It was the moment the music stopped and brought our travel industry to its knees.
The music has stopped for Australia’s big airlines – and for the rest of the international aviation industry…Pix by Wolter PeetersThe major airlines’ chief executives, Qantas’ Alan Joyce and Virgin Australia’s Paul Scurrah, had been tipped off by Transport Minister Michael McCormack that something big was coming. On Saturday night, their respective management teams worked furiously to formulate plans to get customers and their own crews back from international destinations.
From a very large glass room in Qantas’ Mascot headquarters, the carrier’s crisis management team, composed of representatives from each of the airline’s critical divisions, was in overdrive.
