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- The Queensland Government is poised to invest $200 million dollars to keep Virgin’s (VAH) headquarters in Brisbane
- The airline’s new owner Bain Capital has agreed to keep Virgin HQ in the capital city for another 10 years in return for the money
- The deal has been on the cards for months, but will officially be signed today
- However, the deal between Virgin Australia and the Palaszczuk Government doesn’t necessarily guarantee local jobs are safe
- The new owner of Virgin has begun cutting jobs as it works to keep the airline afloat after it went into voluntary administration
The Queensland Government is poised to invest $200 million dollars in Virgin Australia (VAH), in a bid to keep the airline’s headquarters stationed in Brisbane.
Under a deal set to be signed today, Virgin’s new owner Bain Capital has agreed to keep the airline based in the capital city for another ten years.
The deal between Virgin Australia and the Palaszczuk Government was first floated back in April, when the company went into voluntary administration.
The entire Virgin fleet was severely affected by COVID-19, which saw the majority of flights worldwide cancelled as lockdown measures were implemented.
Bain Capital ultimately ended up taking control of Virgin Australia after winning the bidding war in late-June.
In the weeks leading up to the sale, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk agreed to provide support to whichever company took over the airline.
Premier Palaszczuk said at the time that it was important to keep the aviation industry and wider tourism sector afloat.
“Supporting traditional industries like tourism is part of our plan to restore our economy and create jobs,” she stated.
While ahead of the signing today, Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick said the Government were hopeful of retaining as many jobs as possible.
“It will be a 10-year agreement and that will secure the headquarters and as many jobs as we can in Queensland,” Cameron said.
It’s expected the Government’s $200 million investment will be made up of 10 per cent equity and 90 per cent loans.
It’s not known how many local jobs will remain at the headquarters though, as Bain has been undertaking widespread cost-cutting measures — including mass redundancies.
Hundreds of Virgin staff have been offered redundancies, as the airline downsizes its operations in Australia.
Shares in Virgin Australia have been suspended from trading since April, with the stock last trading for just 8.6 cents each.
