Australia’s domestic carriers collectively suffered a drop in punctuality in March as Tropical Cyclone Debbie played havoc with airline schedules and led to scores of cancellations, government figures show. The Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) report said local carriers had an average on-time arrivals rate of 76.7 per cent in March, which
Former New Zealand Prime Minister John Key is swapping the cabinet room for the board room after being named as a director of Air New Zealand. Key, who resigned as Prime Minister in December 2016 and left parliament in March, will take his seat on the Air New Zealand board on September 1, the airline
Regional Express (Rex) fears recent changes to Australia’s skilled worker visa program will make it harder for the airline to recruit overseas pilots and lead to cuts in air services. The federal government recently announced it was ending the 457 temporary skilled worker visa scheme. In its place will be two new temporary skilled worker
Virgin Australia plans to consolidate its turboprop operations to routes within the ACT, New South Wales and Victoria as it prepares to reduce the number of ATRs in the fleet from 14 to six. A memo to staff from Virgin Australia group executive for airlines John Thomas, as seen by Australian Aviation, said all six
Qantas has confirmed its new Perth-London nonstop flights with the Boeing 787-9 will originate in Melbourne, with a new QF9/QF10 Melbourne-Perth-London rotation replacing the airline’s existing QF9/QF10 Melbourne-Dubai-London route operated by the Airbus A380 when services begin on March 24 next year. The new Melbourne-Perth-London flights will mean a one-hour shorter travel time between Melbourne and London due to
Etihad Airways will add a second daily Airbus A380 flight to Sydney from the end of the October, but at the same time will downgauge capacity on both its twice-daily Melbourne flights. Under its northern hemisphere winter schedule, set to take effect from October 29, Etihad will upgauge the current EY450/EY451 Abu Dhabi-Sydney-Abu Dhabi rotation from the 328-seat 777-300ER
