Unions fear as many as 2000 jobs could go, as bidders flesh out their plans for returning Virgin planes to the skies.

All bidders who submitted proposals last Friday were asked to estimate job losses, as well as plans for the domestic and international fleets.
The pressure is increasing on the bidders to publicly outline their plans and questions have been raised about how the winning bidder will be held to account.
One source noted that Cyrus Capital, a New York-based hedge fund, had promised to inject £100 million into UK airline Flybe but then said in March it wouldn’t do so unless ministers agreed to delay the airline’s multi-million-pound air passenger duty bill.
The two final bidders for Virgin Australia plan to return almost two-thirds of its 130 domestic planes to the skies but are still forecasting more job losses for the failed airline.
About 80 planes are required to compete effectively with Qantas on the domestic routes, sources said. How quickly the planes returned to the skies will be led by demand and border openings.
The 2000 job cuts number was earmarked by BGH Capital, which wasn’t included in the final two bidders, and included heavy cuts from the head office, a source with knowledge of the process said.
It would be less if international flying were resumed, the source said, noting the private equity firm had also committed to paying full redundancies and entitlements.
BGH revised its forecasts for domestic flights upwards in recent days after Qantas put on its full schedule of flights. It expected to have a minimum of 30 planes flying as early as July.
Chief executive Paul Scurrah had begun a cost-cutting program, which was due to be completed by July this year.
Mr Scurrah flagged 750 jobs would be cut, but only about 500 were completed before the company reduced capacity and grounded planes in the first quarter of the year.
In March, the airline announced it would cut 1000 roles in Tigerair and Virgin’s New Zealand base. Those jobs were cut.
Bidders also spoke to the management team on Wednesday.
Management forecasts for the airline include a scenario where domestic capacity will be back to normal by December this year, and international capacity should be close to 70 per cent.
The meetings came as Virgin chief Paul Scurrah criticised the Queensland government for failing to consider the airline as a carrier to operate flights between Brisbane and the Whitsundays.
“As the national carrier based in Queensland, we were disappointed not to be contacted nor considered for this flying. Our crew are eager to get back flying and will be incredibly disappointed not to be included. We would welcome contact from the Queensland Government on this,” Mr Scurrah said in a statement.
The deadline for binding offers has been extended to June 22.
Brookfield, which was knocked out of the final round and has raised concerns about the process being too rushed, wanted at least two more weeks before submitting a bid.
Deloitte is still planning to receive closing bids by June 30 and hold a creditors meeting in mid-August.