Qantas has revealed an Australian government plan to give more than 8000 airline employees affected by the closure of international borders a $A500 a week "direct support payment". The Australian newspaper reported that Qantas boss Alan Joyce told an employee "town hall" meeting that the allowance was the "centerpiece" of the government's $A1.2 billion tourism and aviation support package. The newspaper said the package would continue until borders re-opened, expected to be sometime in October, and suggested up to 8600 Qantas and Virgin Australia employees could be beneficiaries. Eligibility would be restricted to Australian-based employees stood down because of the impact of border closures on international flying. READ: International travel closer as IATA app passes crucial test. Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack announced the $A1.2 billion support package, which included 800,000 half-price air tickets, on March 11. Mr McCormack said at the time that the package would include support to help Australia’s international passenger airlines maintain more than 8000 core international aviation jobs. Other measures included:

• Support for regular passenger airports to meet their domestic security screening costs
• A new Aviation Services Assistance Support Program to help ground-handling companies meet the costs of mandatory training, certification and accreditation to ensure they maintain their workforces so they can stand them back up when the market expands again.
• The reinstatement of domestic aviation security screening cost rebates for more than 50 regular passenger airports

Mr McCormack said on Thursday that the $500 per week measure was not the same as JobKeeper but was uniquely targeted to ready the aviation industry for take-off once international borders re-opened. The Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA) welcomed the support for pilots affected by the closed borders. AIPA president Murray Butt noted that while many sectors of the economy were recovering from the impact of Covid, the same could not be said of the aviation industry. “Qantas and Jetstar staff who have been stood down for the past year don’t know when they will be flying again,” he said. “That has made it very difficult for pilots who have been unable to move on with their careers.” “Many have taken up secondary employment while they wait for global travel to resume.” Captain Butt said pilots hoped the rapid rollout of Covid vaccinations globally would lead to international flights resuming by October.