The world’s airlines are collectively expected to post close to US$40 billion in profits in calendar 2016 as lower oil prices and demand for air travel buoy the bottom line. The forecast, presented by International Air Transport Association (IATA) chief executive Tony Tyler at the industry body’s annual general meeting in Dublin on Thursday, was
Qantas says it will add Dallas/Fort Worth to its dedicated Boeing 747-400F freighter network from June 9. The 747 freighters, which are operated by Atlas on behalf of Qantas, will stop in Dallas/Fort Worth every Thursday morning as part of a triangular routing from Australia to China and the US. Qantas, which holds cargo traffic rights from the
Etihad Airways has deployed the Airbus A380 on the Melbourne route, with the Gulf airline’s first service operated by the 496-seat flagship touching down in Australia’s second largest city on Thursday evening. Abu Dhabi-based Etihad will now operate the A380 on one of its twice daily flights to Melbourne, replacing a 777-300ER on its EY460-EY461 rotation. The
Etihad Airways has introduced the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner onto its daily flight to Perth, replacing the Airbus A330-200. The change of equipment was officially marked on Thursday, but the airline’s first 787 flight to Perth in fact landed on Monday thanks to an unscheduled aircraft substitution. 787-9 A6-BLF operated that unofficial first flight, touching down at 1:47pm on Monday
Qantas Group has expanded its Western Australian presence, moving into the Perth Airport operated Terminal 3. Following Virgin Australia’s move across the airport to its new T1 Domestic facility, T3 was flagged for Qantas Group use. This allowed Jetstar services to move from T4 to T3, as well as opening up aerobridge access to a
Virgin Australia has applied to the International Air Services Commission seeking traffic rights to operate daily services from a “major Australian gateway” to both Hong Kong and Beijing as part of its newly-announced alliance with Hainan Airlines parent company HNA. “As part of a proposed alliance with the HNA Aviation Group Co. Ltd, Virgin Australia International
