Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd. will cut a third of its workforce under the ownership of Bain Capital as the buyout firm attempts to resurrect the airline during the industry’s worst-ever crisis.

Under a plan announced Wednesday, 3,000 of the airline’s 9,000 jobs will go, long-haul international travel will remain suspended until the global market recovers and the budget Tiger Australia brand will be ditched. The airline will fly only Boeing Co. 737s on domestic and short-haul routes, dropping aircraft including Boeing 777s and Airbus A320s.

The proposals are the first glimpse of Bain Capital’s plans to revive Virgin Australia in a market that shows little sign of recovery. The airline crumbled in April under A$6.8 billion ($4.9 billion) in borrowings and travel bans triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. Administrators fast-tracked an auction before Virgin Australia’s cash ran dry and agreed to sell the airline to Bain in June.

“Demand for domestic and short-haul international travel is likely to take at least three years to return to pre-Covid-19 levels, with the real chance it could be longer,” said Paul Scurrah, the airline’s chief executive officer. “We must make changes to ensure the Virgin Australia Group is successful in this new world.”

Dim Future

The outlook for the aviation industry as a whole remains bleak, with the International Air Transport Association warning a full recovery is unlikely before 2024, a year later than previously anticipated.

Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. on Tuesday after telling a London court it was set to run out of cash next month if a pending rescue deal isn’t approved.

In Australia, Melbourne is in full lockdown after a flareup in Covid-19 infections, and plans for a virus-free air corridor with New Zealand have been put on ice.

Bain’s scaled back goals for Virgin Australia—at least for now—contrast with the airline’s previous and ultimately fateful ambition to compete with Qantas Airways Ltd. as a full-service carrier.

That vision destroyed Virgin Australia’s balance sheet and ultimately led to a management shakeup. As the new CEO, Scurrah had barely started to cut costs, simplify operations and trim debt before he was overwhelmed by the pandemic.

The airline will ensure that travel credits are provided to customers on flights that were canceled due to the pandemic, and ensure their validity is “significantly extended.”

Scurrah said the airline initially aimed to secure 6,000 jobs and hoped to employ up to 8,000 as the market recovers.

Qantas in June said it would cut 6,000 jobs and ground about 100 planes as it laid out plans to raise an additional A$1.9 billion to survive the downturn.

Virgin Australia’s creditors, who include more than 9,000 employees, are yet to find out how much money they will recoup. They’re due to vote on the proposed sale to Bain on Aug 26.

The airline started as a low-cost domestic carrier in 2000. When it went under, Virgin Australia employed close to 10,000 staff and operated 144 aircraft, generating almost 80% of its revenue from domestic flights. It had pushed back delivery of Boeing Co. 737 Max jets to July 2021, when it expected to receive the first of the 48 it had on order.