SYDNEY, April 21 (Xinhua) -- Airline Virgin Australia has entered voluntary administration as COVID-19 hammered global air travel, leaving Australia with the possibility of just one local airline.
The company revealed on Tuesday that it was moving to "recapitalize" with the aim of emerging intact on the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier Australia's government refused calls to bail out the airline -- however Finance Minister Mathias Cormann told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that it was in the country's interest to maintain a two-airline market.
"The government is not in the business of owning an airline," Cormann said.
"But we do want to see two airlines continue and we believe that the opportunities [are] there out of the administration process for that to happen."
Roughly 15,000 jobs face an uncertain future with the airline already standing down around 80 percent of its workforce last month as the COVID-19 crisis spread.
One of the appointed administrators, Vaughan Strawbridge from Deloitte said that a number of parties had already expressed an interest in purchasing the business.
"We have commenced a process of seeking interest from parties for participation in the recapitalization of the business and its future, and there have been several expressions of interest so far," Strawbridge said.
"Our intention is to undertake a process to restructure and refinance the business and bring it out of administration as soon as possible." Enditem
