There will be more pain today for those still invested in our major airlines, Qantas, Virgin and Rex after travel restrictions were tightened even further on Sunday in a series of statements from the federal and state governments.
As a result, don’t be surprised if the shares of Qantas and Virgin Australia are suspended sometime today after the federal government warned against non-essential interstate travel and the states tightened their borders to stop the spread of coronavirus.
As a result of the spate of announcements on Sunday, Qantas and Virgin Australia are set to shrink their domestic networks even further this week, on top of the cuts revealed last week.
Qantas shares jumped 10% on Friday to $2.36 which will be reversed today if trading is allowed in the shares. Qantas shares fell nearly 26% last week.
Virgin shares fell 5.1% to 6 cents and lost more than 30% last week.
Shares in Rex, the regional operator ended at 56 cents on Friday and fell 33% last week.
Both companies could ask for a trading halt until they work out just what they will be doing once the new restrictions in place.
Seeing the market is now very much uninformed, a temporary suspension might be best for disclosure reasons.
Qantas said on Sunday it would “continue to adjust … services as needed in light of the latest advice and restrictions” from the federal, state and territory governments on non-essential travel.
Qantas and Jetstar were already planning to park up to 50 planes – a third of the 150 aircraft they had decided to pull from service – at Avalon Airport in Victoria over the next week, as airlines undertake the biggest grounding of aircraft in the country’s history.
Now the rest of the 150 planes Qantas and Jetstar planned to ground this week, before Sunday’s tighter travel advisories were announced, will be parked at Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth airports.
NSW and Victoria are shutting down, with schools to close on Tuesday. South Australia and Western Australia have also followed the Northern Territory and Tasmania in effectively closing their borders over the next three days.
The ACT is also taking similar action and banning travel outside the Canberra region.
Virgin said it was considering its “options and next steps”, following the tighter travel restrictions. It announced last week that it would ground 53 planes, cease all international flying and halve its domestic capacity until at least mid-June.
Late Sunday Singapore announced that it had closed its borders to all short-term visitors who might be transiting or seeking or to enter the country.
The country’s latest measures are aimed at fighting the spread of the coronavirus and conserving resources for its citizens who are returning from other countries.
The new measures came a day after the city-state reported its first fatalities and it confirmed 47 new cases, taking its tally to 432.
Some short-term visitors have continued to arrive even after Singapore imposed a mandatory 14-day self-quarantine on anyone entering the country.
