The World of Aviation

Hoping to inject some “typical Aussie character” into its “traditional Cantonese inflight experience,” China Southern Airlines has launched a recruiting drive looking for some very Australian flight attendants. The drive netted 400 applications in its first week and will wrap up next month in Sydney before moving on to Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth next year.

High fuel prices and its running dispute with unions have cost Qantas more than $650 million, according to a profit update released today by the airline. Qantas expects a first-half underlying profit of $140 to $190 million, a sharp decline from its $417 million profit in the first half of 2010/11. The labour battle that

An iPhone spontaneously combusted after a Regional Express flight from Lismore to Sydney, according to the airline. The phone “started emitting a significant amount of dense smoke, accompanied by a red glow” after flight LZ319 landed in Sydney on Friday, Regional Express said. A flight attendent was able to extinguish the phone and no one

UPDATED: In a turnabout blamed on the shambolic state of the world economy, Qantas has decided to shelve plans to launch a premium carrier in Asia and will instead form an alliance with Malaysia Airlines, the Australian Financial Review has reported. Qantas executives lost confidence in the capital-intensive venture as the European debt crises worsened

“Even the most jaundiced” would acknowledge significant improvements in the way Australia’s aviation regulator does business. Such are the hopes, at least, of CASA boss John McCormick, who has laid out his arguments for the regulator having “lifted [its] game” in recent years. McCormick makes his case in this month’s edition of CASA’s newsletter. Highlighting the

The last of the Royal Australian Navy’s Amphibious Landing Platforms (LPAs) has been formally retired as the HMAS Kanimbla was decommissioned on Friday at her homeport of Garden Island in Sydney. The Kanimbla served in the Navy for 17 years, taking part in Australian and coalition operations from the western Pacific to the Middle East.