Kevin Andrews new Defence Minister as Johnston dumped from Cabinet
Kevin Andrews has been named as the new Minister for Defence as part of a cabinet reshuffle announced by Prime Minister Tony Abbott in Canberra on Sunday. Andrews, until now Minister for Social Services, will take on the portfolio from Senator David Johnston, who will leave cabinet despite the Prime Minister praising for him doing
VH-OJA back in Sydney
Qantas’s first Boeing 747-400 has arrived back in Australia and is expected to be shortly be on its way to a yet-to-be-identified retirement home. After a delay of more than four hours, VH-OJA departed Los Angeles as QF18 in the early hours of Friday morning at 0045 local time bound for Sydney. The flight landed
NSW government awards new helicopter air ambulance contracts
Transport and logistics provider Toll Group has won a 10-year contract to operate a key element of NSW Health’s aeromedical fleet. NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner announced the winners of the recently conducted tender for the state’s rotary-wing air ambulance operations on Friday. Under the new contracts, the state’s helicopter ambulance operations will be split into a
First RAAF F-35 arrives at Luke AFB
The first RAAF Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II arrived at Luke AFB near Phoenix in Arizona on December 18 to join the USAF-led training pool there. F-35A A35-002 (AU-2) was flown by a USAF pilot, and was welcomed to Luke by the Australian air attache to Washington AIRCDRE Gary Martin, the first Australian F-35 pilot
Virgin Australia, Rex top on-time stats for November
Virgin Australia claimed on-time honours for a second straight month in November, while Rex retained its position as the most punctual regional carrier. Figures from the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics showed 89 per cent of Virgin’s domestic flights departed within 15 minutes of schedule in November, ahead of Qantas at 86.7 per
Defence releases report into Afghanistan Chinook crash
The ADF has released a redacted commission of inquiry (CoI) report into the crash of an Army CH-47D Chinook in Afghanistan on May 30 2011 which resulted in the death of Army LT Marcus Case. LT Case had recently arrived in Afghanistan to join the Kandahar-based Heron RPV detachment. He was riding on the open rear
