MTA Queensland member and winner of the 2019 MTA Queensland community award, Hertz Mount Isa, were hit hard when the COVID-19 pandemic caused airlines to almost completely cut flights in and out of Mount Isa.

With a reduction in the number of arrivals into the city, owners Terry and Alison Dowling saw the number of vehicles they were renting out every week drop alarmingly.

But with Mount Isa beginning to reopen and flights beginning to be scheduled, Alison Dowling says the business can now see the light at the end of the tunnel.

“From Monday Qantas will be coming back daily so we’ll be going from two vehicles rented out in a week, then six, and now 30, that’s the difference it makes,” said Ms Dowling.

The news comes as a relief to the business, after the drop in income had them facing uncertainty as the costs continued to add up.

“When Virgin dropped out and Qantas dropped from twice daily to once a week from Brisbane, it hit us very hard indeed, it was almost an overnight stop,” said Ms Dowling.

“It was an uncertain and stressful business time. We weren’t quite sure what to do with staff, we have a big obligation to them. We were thankful for JobKeeper – it didn’t come through till the end of May, but we managed to survive till then.

“We worked intensely with our accountant and financial adviser. We might not have revenue, but we still have fixed costs.”

With so much uncertainty surrounding what loans and government support they were eligible for as well as how to access this support, Ms Dowling said Hertz Mount Isa’s membership with MTA Queensland proved to be invaluable.

“They put out daily briefings, and the weekly briefings, there were links to training and legislation, which were excellent.”

This was particularly useful after the business was told they had missed out on the Queensland government jobs support loan after being told they were eligible.

“I started that application early in that first week, but I had trouble with it as you can’t go backwards and forwards in that system and I needed help, but everyone was busy,” said Ms Dowling.

“We weren’t successful with that loan. What was disappointing was even though we got the phone call back the day the Queensland government announced a further $250 million, we still weren’t eligible because it was already oversubscribed, I couldn’t understand that.”

With operations looking to ramp up in the coming weeks, the business has already made alterations to day-to-day aspects of the business to prioritise the safety of customers and staff.

“Obviously our vehicles have to be cleaned very thoroughly anyway.

“For the front counter at the airport our staff will wear the full face masks because there is going to be a mass of people coming through.”

Ms Dowling is hopeful that once business returns to normal they can re-visit plans to expand to Cloncurry, Longreach and Birdsville.

Source: North West Star | Mount Isa Hertz hurts in the pandemic