Perth Airport, in Western Australia, is blocking four Virgin Australia aircraft to protect its financial exposure after the airline was placed in administration this week.

The airport has confirmed it has taken liens on four Virgin aircraft, though some of those do not currently have engines.

One aircraft, which is not in use, is being blocked by an airport vehicle to prevent a tow bar being attached. A bulldozer is blocking the movement of another.

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Perth Airport is owed A$16 million by Virgin Australia, which comes on top of A$20 million that Qantas has refused to pay on outstanding invoices.

The airport had previously confirmed it expects a loss of A$100 million in revenue for the next three months due to the impacts of COVID-19.

A spokesman said the airport was “working cooperatively with Virgin’s administrators to try to help the airline come through the current coronavirus crisis.”

“Virgin has significant outstanding invoices from Perth Airport for airfield and terminal use charges — money the airline has already collected from its passengers and the FIFO sector,” he said.

“While Perth Airport is working with the Virgin Australia administrators, it also needs to protect its own interests.

“Perth Airport has taken liens over a number of Virgin aircraft — a standard practice in these situations. The aircraft affected are not being used for current FIFO or interstate operations and have been parked at Perth Airport for some time now.

“There will be zero impact on the State’s resources sector.

“At this point in time, we continue to facilitate Virgin’s FIFO flights through T2 while we try to secure an agreement with the administrators.”

Virgin Australia is continuing to fly about 180 mainly FIFO flights each week.

The airport said that “maintaining a two-airline system in Australia post-COVID-19 is absolutely essential for the aviation and tourism sectors, and the broader economy”.

But Qantas has hit out at Perth Airport. A spokesman said “even by Perth Airport’s standards, this is extraordinary behaviour. Protecting your interests is one thing but parking a bulldozer in front of an aircraft while saying you’re  ‘working to secure an agreement’ is ridiculous. "It’s no way to treat a customer of 20 years. This kind of action is deeply worrying for all users of Perth Airport. " “We have our own dispute with Perth Airport over excessive charges, which has been going through the courts for over a year. As part of that, they refuse to negotiate and pay up on the terminal (Terminal 4) they have effectively taken back from us, which is valued at well over $150 million. How would they feel if we took the same approach to collections as them?” the spokesman said. However in a tit for tat exchange a Perth Airport spokesman responded; "Perth Airport is on the record as repeatedly trying to seek a commercial resolution with Qantas and has made multiple offers to achieve this, all of which have been rejected by Qantas. "In relation to Terminal 4, we are following an agreed joint independent valuation process. Qantas is fully aware that an independent valuer has been agreed and appointed because they have been involved in the process. "We are puzzled by Qantas’s latest comments and the motivations behind them," the spokesman said.

Today, administrators from Deloitte said that from their initial review of the books and records of the airline’s companies, they had identified about 10,247 known creditors, including about 9020 employees.

It noted that “this is likely to change as more information becomes available”.

The administrators said they expect the total number of creditors to be more than 12,000.

The initial review of debts totalling A$6.9 billion was made up of:

• Lenders under secured corporate debt and aircraft financing facilities — A$2,283,639,303
• Unsecured bondholders — A$1,988,250,000
• Trade creditors — A$166,704,085.69
• Aircraft lessors — A$1,883,914,848
• Landlords — A$71,209,929 and
• Employees — A$450,777,961