iscover
Virgin Australia pilots have voted through a new enterprise agreement on pay and working conditions after rejecting an earlier offer this year.
The new deal, backed by 75 per cent of respondents, will see base salary increases of more than 21 per cent over three years as well as improvements to flexible working.
This content is available exclusively to Australian Aviation members.
A monthly membership is only $5.99 or save with our annual plans.
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Unlimited access to all Australian Aviation digital content
- Access to the Australian Aviation app
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Access to our Behind the Lens photo galleries and other exclusive content
- Daily news updates via our email bulletin
- Unlimited access to all Australian Aviation digital content
- Access to the Australian Aviation app
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Access to our Behind the Lens photo galleries and other exclusive content
- Daily news updates via our email bulletin
It comes after months of negotiations that eventually saw the Fair Work Commission brought in to help break the deadlock before a deal was agreed last month.
Virgin Australia chief pilot Alex Scamps hailed the “generous increases to pay”, as well as increased flexibility around part-time arrangements.
“We know both pay and flexibility are really important to our people,” he said. “This outcome is great news for our pilots and recognises our collaborative relationship with both the AFAP and the TWU over the last 15 months of negotiations.”
TWU national secretary Michael Kaine hailed the new deal but warned the company still has a long way to go to “restore worker morale”.
“Pilots and many others in the Virgin workforce have stuck by this airline throughout administration and helped get it back into the air,” he said.
“Ground crew, cabin crew and pilots have now settled agreements but only after months of negotiations, movements towards industrial action, and assisted bargaining.
“With a new CEO announcement still to come, it’s time now for owners Bain Capital to get back to listening to its people who’ve delivered strong profit results for the airline.
“We will push to ensure the proposed Qatar stake presents career opportunities for pilots but there are still question marks around what it will mean for the workforce and its culture, with concerns particularly from cabin crew around the airline’s track record with workers.”
The new deal would see the highest number of DDOs in the industry at 150 per year compared to 132 at Jetstar and 130 at Qantas, and robust safeguards against fatigue-related issues.
In total, 98 per cent of eligible pilots took part in the vote, with 859 voted for and 293 voted against.
The news comes days after Virgin confirmed speculation that Qatar will buy a 25 per cent stake in the airline. The deal will also surprisingly see Virgin wet-lease aircraft from the international carrier to fly services to Doha.
Subject to approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board, the deal would effectively allow Qatar to grow its footprint in Australia without needing to expand bilateral air service agreements.
The news comes just over a year after Transport Minister Catherine King controversially blocked the expansion of Qatar flights into major Australian airports – a decision that Virgin, a codeshare partner of Qatar, criticised.
The new deal will specifically see Virgin sell wet-leased services operated by Qatar Airways from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth to Doha beginning in mid-2025. It will be Virgin’s first attempt to fly wide-body international flights since emerging from administration and switching its fleet to predominantly 737s.
