Virgin Australia is grounding its international fleet in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with some aviation experts warning the company may fail to survive the crisis despite Federal Government stimulus measures.

Key points: Virgin Australia's international services will be suspended from March 30 to June 14

Virgin Australia's international services will be suspended from March 30 to June 14 The airline is also slashing domestic capacity by half

The airline is also slashing domestic capacity by half Qantas and Jetstar announced yesterday they would cut international capacity by about 90 per cent, and domestic capacity by about 60 per cent

In a statement to the ASX on Wednesday morning, the airline said all international services would be suspended from March 30 to June 14.

The airline is also slashing domestic capacity by 50 per cent until June 14.

The equivalent of 53 aircraft will be grounded.

This includes the grounding of five Boeing 777s, one Airbus A330 and 14 Boeing 737 aircraft from the group's international fleet.

"We have entered an unprecedented time in the global aviation industry," Virgin Australia CEO and managing director Paul Scurrah said.

"[That] has required us to take significant action to responsibly manage our business while balancing traveller demands and supporting the wellbeing of Australians."

Virgin Australia will operate a reduced international schedule between now and March 29 to enable Australians to return home and visitors to return to their point of origin.

The group said it would work closely with Government to prioritise those journeys.

Virgin boss says redundancies are 'inevitable'

Mr Scurrah said the company was "well-positioned to weather this storm".

Asked directly whether the airline was solvent Mr Scurrah responded, "we are comfortable with our current position".

He welcomed the Federal Government's $715 million stimulus for airlines, but said, "whether it is enough or not, it is too early to tell".

Virgin was also in discussions with the union about the impact on its 10,500 staff.

It would aim to avoid redundancies by fast-tracking accrued leave, leave without pay and redeployment.

But in some cases, job losses would be the outcome, he said, without stating how many redundancies would be offered.

It follows the airline's August announcement it was cutting 750 head office and corporate roles, as it sought to rebound from a $349 million full-year loss.

"The saddest part about this is there will be impacts on our people," Mr Scurrah said.

"Redundancies in these circumstances will be an inevitability."

He said the travel restrictions were hurting the global aviation industry but could not estimate what the total loss would end up being.

"I don't have a crystal ball about how long this will go for," he said.

"There is virtually no international aviation sector available at the moment."

He said the company had developed a plan with the Government about where to ground their aircraft, but they would be held all over the country, including in humid areas such as Alice Springs.

Cash is king, and Virgin could come unstuck, expert says

Aviation expert Neil Hansford told ABC News that despite the Government's stimulus, which included the waiving of certain fees and charges for the major carriers, the company could still fail to survive the crisis.

He said the Government stimulus package took away "some of the pain" but did not guarantee any loans for the company.

"It's really nickels and dimes when in the cost of an airline, 80 per cent of the costs are fixed," he said.

Mr Hansford said the fees and charges that were being waived were variable costs, but employee costs were fixed and redundancies would also be costly.

He also pointed out Qantas owned a major part of its fleet and was not having to pay out high lease costs, which was not the case with Virgin.

"The problem is that cash is king, and if you haven't got it you're not going to survive," he said.

But Virgin Australia has previously said that, like Qantas, it is sitting on more than $1 billion in cash.

Mr Hansford said Virgin's 90 per cent shareholders were in as much or more trouble than the airline.

"Because Virgin is not an Australian airline, it is majority owned by the Chinese (Hainan and Nanshan), Singapore's Government (Singapore Airlines) and the Emirate of Abu Dabi (Etihad)," he said.

He said it was strange to subsidise a business that was not Australian owned.

It would be cheaper to pay benefits to Australian employees than give money and benefits to foreign-owned airlines, he said.

Flight Centre announces more cost cutting

Today, Flight Centre announced further cuts and "cash savings initiatives" were on the way, following its closure of 100 underperforming stores across Australia last week.

In a statement, the company said it would be "significantly impacted" by recent events, including government-imposed restrictions on international travel and the latest reductions in airline capacity.

"The conditions that our industry is facing are unprecedented," Flight Centre managing director Graham Turner said.

"Management is determined to overcome the significant challenges that it currently faces and, with the support of our stakeholders, is ready to prosper when conditions eventually normalise."

The company said it would be holding more discussions with stakeholders, and was in talks with the Federal Government to discuss broader industry assistance packages.

Mr Turner has previously said the company has $1.3 billion in cash on its balance sheet.

It has already made a number of changes, including introducing flexible work arrangements, reduced trading, encouraging staff to take leave during a slowdown tipped for March and April and a recruitment freeze.

Executives will also give up their performance bonuses.

Virgin offers credit for cancellations, changes without fees

Virgin had also already announced it would temporarily reduce chairman and director fees by 15 per cent, and remove bonuses.

Virgin Australia's share price has been tanking for the past month. On Tuesday it dropped another 8.7 per cent to 6.3 cents, but had rebounded by Wednesday afternoon to 6.7 cents.

The company said the route and schedule detail of changes across Virgin Australia and Tigerair Australia was currently being worked through and would be published over the next week.

While the suspension will affect all international flights for two months from March 30, some major international routes will be impacted in the interim.

They includes the popular Melbourne to Los Angeles service, which will be suspended from March 20.

The Brisbane to Haneda service and Melbourne to Denpasar service will also been postponed from March 29.

Virgin had set up a "dedicated customer care hub" on its website to deal with the surge of customer queries and travel changes.

It said guests with new or existing domestic and international bookings through to June 30, 2020 could change their flight to a later date and/or a different destination without incurring a fee.

Guests who no longer wished to travel could cancel their flight and receive a travel credit, it said.

Passengers booked on international flights between March 30 and June 14 will be contacted by Virgin Australia within the next 14 days via email.

Travel agents will make direct contact with guests who have booked through them.

"Guests are advised that due to the large number of schedule changes they should not contact the airline unless they are travelling in the next 24 hours or need immediate assistance to return home or to their point of origin," the company said.

On Wednesday Australia's consumer watchdog issued advice for consumers and businesses about their rights and obligations if events, flights or travel services were cancelled.

"If your travel is cancelled, the ACCC expects that you will receive a refund or other remedy, such as a credit note or voucher, in most circumstances," it said.

"However, if the event is cancelled due to government restrictions, this impacts your rights under the consumer guarantees."

On Tuesday, Qantas and Jetstar announced they would cut international capacity by about 90 per cent and domestic capacity by about 60 per cent until at least the end of May.