Only essential domestic regional and freight connections will be maintained "as much as possible", the airline has confirmed this morning.

"The 60 per cent reduction in capacity will come mostly from a significant reduction in flight frequency, but also route suspensions and postponing a number of new route launches," Qantas said in a statement.

Bendigo's fledgling service to Sydney was introduced in May 2019. Qantas quickly deemed it a success and expanded it to include extra services last August.

All flights will stop by the end of March. They are not expected to start taking off again until at least the end of May.

It is one of 27 regional services suspended, with Qantas delaying the launch of others to places like Mildura and Orange.

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The Qantas Group has also reduced services on other domestic routes across Australia and is currently negotiating with the government over strategic international routes.

Earlier this week, Qantas announced it would cut its international capacity by 90 per cent.

Qantas and Jetstar will stand down two-thirds of its 30,000-strong workforce until at least the end of May.

Bendigo's peak business group hopes Qantas flights return to full operation as soon as possible once it can start recovering from the unfolding crisis.

But Be.Bendigo CEO Dennis Bice said he understood the airline's pain.

"We'd hope for business can return to full service quickly but it's way too early to know what is going to happen," he said.

Qantas officials contacted Be.Bendigo early Thursday morning to explain exactly what the flights suspension will mean.

"That shows the really good relationship we have with them (Qantas)," he said.

Be.Bendigo is in the midst of preparations to help other businesses in its network deal with economic shock, Mr Bice said.

It and other groups including the City of Greater Bendigo have come together to work out new ways to keep businesses going, especially the small ones Mr Bice expects to be among the hardest hit.

They are also working to understand the full scale of the devastation being heaped on the central Victorian economy and make sure businesses have the information they need to access help.

"Because everything changes daily it is difficult to say what is going to happen, but we are talking to businesses ... and looking for ways to soften the blow," Mr Bice said.

The situation is looking bleak for many tourism and hospitality operators, Bendigo Tourism Board chair Finn Vedelsby said, with some businesses already having to stand down casual workers temporarily.

"I've had many members contacting me about their concerns, and about the fact that this is outside their control as a business," he said.

His board is preparing to meet next Wednesday to approve plans to help members and has been in intense discussions with various organisations and "forward thinking business people".

"We have been bashing our heads together to work out how we can support individuals and businesses as best we can," Mr Vedelsby said.

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