Virgin won't get special treatment, but the Australian government, like all governments, will give the whole commercial aviation industry concessions and benefits to help keep it afloat, as it is of importance for economic and security reasons.

It's a different scenario to when Ansett went under, as back then the problem was isolated to Ansett, and the industry was still fundamentally strong (due in part to the entrance of Virgin, which at that stage was an up-and-coming low-cost carrier with solid backing from Branson and other early investors).

The AU government wasn't willing to bail VA out of insolvency, but now that a private buyer has come in to restructure it, it will be able to get the same benefits as Qantas.

When Ansett went broke Virgin had just entered the market (further undercutting prices), so there was competition to Qantas. Now what else is there?

There was a rumour that the AU government was willing to let VA collapse and hope that a foreign low-cost airline like Ryanair or Easyjet would enter the market. But it's unlikely any airline is in a strong enough position to make that kind of move at the moment. So they will likely offer a restructured VA the same kind of support as they'll offer Qantas.

Rex has been talking about buying some bigger jets to try and grab market share while Virgin and Qantas are struggling.