The World of Aviation

Virgin Australia’s newest Airbus A330-200 has been sighted at the Airbus factory in Toulouse, France, as its delivery date nears. The aircraft has been allocated the Australian registration VH-XFJ, and is due to be delivered to Australia before the end of September and operate its first scheduled passenger flight in the first week of October. It is the sixth and

Qantas is to operate nonstop flights to Canada for the first time, with six seasonal return services between Sydney and Vancouver planned for January 2015. The direct flights will be operated by three-class Boeing 747-400 aircraft and will run twice a week between January 3-22, Qantas said on Tuesday. Flight QF75 will leave Sydney on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 1450

Virgin Australia has repainted and renamed the Boeing 737-800 which was named Brett’s Jet after Virgin Blue founding chief executive Brett Godfrey. The 737, VH-BZG, was one of the last aircraft in the Virgin Australia fleet still wearing the old Virgin Blue colours, and was repainted by Flying Colours in Townsville over late August-early September. It

Newly-promoted Air Vice-Marshal Gavin Turnbull has been appointed Air Commander Australia (ACAUST), replacing Air Vice-Marshal Mel Hupfeld, who in turn has been appointed Head Capability Systems in the Defence Department’s Capability Development Group. “Personnel from Headquarters Air Command have had a critical role in planning large scale exercises to maintain readiness for joint operations, including the recent

While the regional aviation sector has welcomed the revival of a scheme that subsidises the cost of navigation charges for flights to smaller regional centres, it says the new $1 million a year scheme is much smaller than the one it replaces. The federal government said on Monday it would spend $1 million a year

The RAAF has marked 800,000 flying hours by its Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules fleet over five decades with a formation flight by three 37SQN C-130J aircraft over Sydney Harbour on Wednesday. “Behind this milestone is the contribution of many talented men and women who have made these 800,000 flying hours possible,” Commander of Air Mobility Group