The nation still has a second airline - for now. But Virgin Australia has been told in no uncertain terms that it will have to save itself.
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The debt-laden airline went into voluntary administration on Tuesday, weak and sick but vowing to survive beyond the coronavirus crisis.
"This is a tough day for our airline ... (but) we're certainly not collapsing," the carrier's boss Paul Scurrah told reporters.
He said the airline would continue to operate a skeleton schedule while it works to restructure the airline.
"We'll come back leaner, stronger and fitter," he vowed.
But the airline is on its own.
The federal government has again rejected Labor-backed calls for it to step in, saying it's not about to bail out a company that's 90 per cent owned by large foreign shareholders with deep pockets.
Etihad, Singapore Airlines and Chinese conglomerates HNA and Nanshan own 80 per cent between them, with Richard Branson's Virgin Group owning 10 per cent.
Branson has publicly bemoaned the Australian government's lack of financial support but said it's "not the end for Virgin Australia".
"I believe in a new beginning," he said in a letter to staff, vowing to work with administrators, managers and the government to make that happen.
Branson has even offered his Necker Island estate in the Caribbean as collateral "to raise as much money ... to save as many jobs as possible around the group", including the UK-based Virgin Atlantic.
But there's been no such offer from the Australian carrier's other stakeholders, including the other airlines also struggling with the global travel shutdown.
Singapore Airlines has denied having any plans to buy or bail out Virgin Australia.
And in 2019, Etihad recorded a loss of $1.3 billion, taking its losses since 2016 to $8.7 billion, so there appears to be no money in the wings there.
Virgin Australia has built up about $5 billion in debt after several years of financial losses and has been decimated by the coronavirus pandemic.
The government has appointed former Macquarie Group boss Nicholas Moore to engage with the airline's administrator to find a "market-led solution".
"We're not in the business of owning airlines. We are though in the business of supporting jobs," Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said.
But unions say the government's got a funny way of showing it does care for the 10,000 direct and 6000 indirect workers who'll lose their jobs if Virgin Australia vanishes and leaves Qantas with a monopoly.
Transport Workers Union Secretary Michael Cain said other countries were stepping in to save airlines and warned the Morrison government could find itself on the wrong side of history.
"It's time to send a clear market signal that the government will step up and take an equity stake in Virgin," he said.
"We ask (Prime Minister) Scott Morrison to look into the eyes of these very brave workers who are going to tell their story directly to the Australian people."
As the airline looks for a way out, staff who still have their jobs have been told they'll keep getting their wages.
Eligible staff will continue to get the government's JobKeeper payments, and no further redundancies are planned.
Administrator Vaughan Strawbridge, of Deloitte, has indicated he wants to sell the airline as a going concern but a last resort could see its assets carved up and sold off.
As many as 10 suitors are circling despite the carrier's debts, and Deloitte says staff should know their fate relatively soon.
"This is a matter of months, not longer than that," Mr Strawbridge said.
Australian Associated Press
