What's expected to be a long and complex administration process to restructure Virgin Australia has been complicated by the COVID-19 lockdown.
Justice John Middleton has approved changes to allow Virgin's first creditors meeting scheduled for next week to be online rather than as the normal physical gathering.
ABC's Peter Ryan says Justice Middleton declared his interests as a potential creditor including Virgin tickets, frequent flyer points and membership of the Virgin lounge but would not be claiming.
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One of Virgin Australia's former top executives believes the airline can re-emerge in a leaner meaner incarnation to ensure Qantas isn't handed a monopoly in Australian skies.
John Thomas - who left the embattled airline in 2017 after falling out over strategy- had been a contender to succeed then chief executive John Borghetti.
Mr Thomas says if Virgin's administrators can find new owners and restructure $5 billion of debt, they should take Qantas on as a full service airline rather than become a budget competitor in the post COVID19 world.
I spoke with John Thomas on this morning's AM program
Virgin Australia is likely to re-emerge as a leaner and meaner airline with the company's administrators confident of selling it to one of ten interested parties within three months.
Aviation veteran Sir Rod Eddington says the federal government was right to reject Virgin's bid for a $1.4 billion loan.
ACCC chairman Rod Sims tells ABC's Peter Ryan it's now critical to ensure Qantas does not swamp the market and become a monopoly.
Airport logistics company SwissPort is poised to sack 80 percent of its workers unless it gets a $125 million lifeline from the Federal Government.
Executive vice-president Glenn Rutherford says that without the cash injection to guarantee services like security and checkin, the sector could collapse even if travel restrictions are eased.
Glenn Rutherford's warning comes as Virgin Australia's administrator is optimistic of restructuring and selling the airline in two to three months.
ABC's Peter Ryan with the latest.
Virgin chief executive Paul Scurrah remains upbeat about the rapid turnaround and sale of the stricken airline with ten potential suitors circling.
However, Mr Scurrah said he was disappointed that the federal government refused to provide a $1.4 billion loan after eight meetings with the Prime Minister and Treasurer in recent weeks.
He tells ABC's Peter Ryan that Virgin staff should be encouraged by comments from administrator Vaughan Strawbridge that no redundancies were being planned.
Australians appear to be sticking to social distancing guidelines during the COVID-19 crisis, according to the Bureau of Statistics.
Data for the first week of April shows 98 percent of the thousand people surveyed were social distancing, 88 percent avoiding public places and 87 percent using hand sanitiser more often.
However, the ABS says around 3 percent of people with a job in March didn't have one in April.
ABC's Peter Ryan explains.
The economic toll from the coronavirus lockdown is now becoming apparent with one prediction that as many as 26 percent of Australians could be out of work in the coming weeks.
The Grattan Institute says while the federal government's $130 billion JobKeeper program will keep the official jobless rate much lower, there's growing alarm that the reality will be much more brutal.
ABC's Peter Ryan with this analysis.
