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Exclusive: Airservices tests unified air traffic management systems

Civil Military Air Traffic Management System (CMATS) has been installed at Airservices’ two major control centres in Melbourne and Brisbane, and will now face intensive testing of its operational capabilities, safety, and security following a successful initial Melbourne demonstration.

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Mar 27
Video Podcast: Boeing, going, gone

Adam, Jake and Ben discuss the continuing crisis at Boeing and the impending retirement of the planemaker’s CEO and chairman.

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Mar 27
Bonza branches out from ‘app-first’ with new booking website

Bonza had initially adopted an “app-first” booking strategy where all tickets were sold either through its app or through registered travel agents. CEO Tim Jordan said the new site is in response to customer feedback, complementing the Fly Bonza app and offering customers more choice.

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Mar 27
Jetstar to mark 100 domestic routes with launch of Brisbane-Avalon

Commencing on 28 June, the daily service will connect Brisbane with Jetstar’s original home base of Avalon Airport. It will bring the number of destinations served by Jetstar from Avalon to three, alongside Sydney and the Gold Coast, with the low-cost carrier looking to expand its Avalon services.

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Mar 27
B-21 Raider awarded for outstanding defence achievement

The Northrop Grumman bomber was selected from a collection of defence innovations, including the THOR-ER ramjet missile, Sierra Nevada Corporation and Saab Gripen E fighter jet, as part of the 66th Annual Laureate Awards, hosted by Aviation Week Network at the National Building Museum in Washington DC on 14 March.

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Mar 26
Airnorth’s Perth–Alice Springs route now underway

Flights commenced on Monday 25 March, with flight TL361 taking off from Perth at 8:30am and landing in Alice Springs at 12:30pm local time before returning to Perth that afternoon. The service, which uses Airnorth’s Embraer E170LR aircraft, will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

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Mar 26
Boeing CEO and chairman to go by year’s end as MAX crisis continues

The senior management reshuffle also includes the immediate resignation of Stan Deal, CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, to be replaced by Boeing chief operating officer Stephanie Pope. It comes amid ongoing turmoil for Boeing over the safety record of its 737 MAX family.

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Mar 26
Jetstar’s Sydney service arrives in Margaret River

The service, announced last year, began on Tuesday and operates three times per week using Jetstar’s A320-200 fleet. It is one of only two regular passenger transport flights serving Busselton Margaret River, the other being a Jetstar service to Melbourne.

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Mar 26
Toowoomba to host Ghost Bat production facility

The defence prime said on Tuesday that construction is now underway on a 9,000-square-metre hub it hopes will be operational within three years.

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Mar 26
Exclusive: Qantas A330 hit by engine failure was oldest in fleet

It comes a year after Qantas’ pilot union accused the airline of a failure of fleet planning by not having enough new international aircraft, and with Boeing and Airbus experiencing delivery delays.

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Mar 26
Jetstar to remake its launch campaign with real passenger stories

Qantas’ low-cost subsidiary, which launched in 2004, put out a “casting call” for Australians to share positive memories of the airline to potentially feature in the ad. The campaign, to be filmed in April, will be released for the airline’s 20th anniversary celebration in May.

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Mar 25
Defence acquires Australia’s first laser-based anti-drone system

The Fractl:2 DE system is powerful enough to burn through steel and precise enough to track and shoot down a drone travelling at 100km/hour from kilometres away, according to AIM Defence.

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Mar 25
Jetstar’s fourth weekly Sydney–Rarotonga service to begin Wednesday

Commencing on 27 March, the Wednesday flights, joining existing services on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, will add around 20,000 seats per year between the two destinations using A321neo LR aircraft. Jetstar this month resumed services to Rarotonga following a one-month seasonal pause.

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Mar 25
Rex moves its 737 simulator to Sydney

The simulator, which was moved to Sydney from Ansett Aviation Training’s (AAT) facilities in Brisbane, can be configured for either 737-700 or 737-800 variants and is approved for Upset Prevention and Recovery Training (UPRT).

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Mar 24
Video: UK Minister flies on RAAF’s ‘Top Gun’ Super Hornet

YouTube user ‘Capital Aviation’ captured the moment two Super Hornets – one of which contained Grant Shapps – took off from Fairbairn shortly after 7pm.

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Mar 24
Jetstar beats Qantas in February reliability turnaround

According to Jetstar’s figures, over the past two months, more than 84 per cent of flights have arrived within 30 minutes of schedule, and 94 per cent within the hour.

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Mar 22
Bonza leads the pack in February on-time performance

The low-cost carrier beat the long-term average for on-time arrivals last month, only slightly lagging the average for on-time departures and cancellations. It also led the table among participating airlines on the first two measures, only beaten by Rex on cancellation rates.

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Mar 22
Compensation for sacked Qantas workers delayed by months

The Federal Court heard the last of the witness evidence on Friday (22 March) but lingering questions about the “counterfactual world”, in which the sackings never occurred, has pushed the timeline back.

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Mar 22
Airport firefighters will take industrial action next month

The action by the United Firefighters Union of Australia (UFUA), which will take place during the Easter school holidays, comes after more than 90 per cent of members in a ballot this week voted for future action over claims of understaffing.

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Mar 21
NT helicopter crash pilot was unqualified for night flying, says ATSB

The helicopter, VH-DLD, crashed near Gorrie Station south of Katherine on 7 December, having left nearby Bloodwood Station at around 7:30pm. The ATSB believes the pilot lost visuals after flying into bushfire smoke. Search parties found the wreckage two days later, with the pilot fatally injured.

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Mar 21
Vietjet expands Australian footprint with Hanoi–Sydney services

Launching on 8 June, the new twice-weekly service will be Vietjet’s seventh route connecting Australia to Vietnam, and comes after the announcement of Melbourne–Hanoi earlier this month, the first Vietjet service connecting Australia to the Vietnamese capital.

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Mar 21
Auckland Airport hails North American passenger boom

New Zealand’s largest airport saw more than 500,000 passengers to and from the US and Canada over the summer, with 58 per cent more available seats on North American routes compared to the summer of 2022–23. The airport says the North American market is now bigger than 2019.

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Mar 21
Western Sydney Airport will use locally built check-in systems

The systems from global technology firm Amadeus are being constructed at Micron Manufacturing, which is based at Glendenning near Blacktown in western Sydney. Once the consoles and kiosks are complete, they will be fitted with Amadeus hardware and linked to the airport’s IT system.

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Mar 21
Video Podcast: RAAF rolls out pulse-pounding new recruitment ad

Adam and Jake discuss whether the new “Up There” ad campaign could help turn around the RAAF’s ongoing talent shortage.

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Mar 20
Qantas believed outsourcing was a ‘low’ legal risk, court told

Qantas executives, including then-executive manager of Qantas airports, Colin Hughes, met with lawyers from Herbert Smith Freehills and an industrial relations expert in early June 2020 to discuss the decision to terminate the ground handling staff.

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Mar 20
Bonza’s Gold Coast–Darwin route off the ground after 2 delays

Flight AB1647 from the Gold Coast touched down shortly before midnight on Tuesday night aboard VH-UKH ‘Malc’. The launch of Bonza’s Gold Coast–Darwin services, which were initially due to begin late last year, was delayed twice due to issues with CASA certification and capacity constraints.

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Mar 20
Australian Space Diversity Alliance launches

The Australian Space Diversity Alliance (ASDA) said it aims to support senior leaders and minimise the barriers that marginalised groups face. It comes after a series of reports have shown the sector is lagging behind others in regard to gender disparity, and a talent shortage critics say can only be overcome with a more diverse intake.

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Mar 19
Bids open for critical RAAF Base Darwin infrastructure project

The contract opportunity for eligible Australian companies, announced by the United States Department of Defense, includes the construction of a parking apron, a maintenance support facility, and an aircraft maintenance hangar.

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Mar 19
Qantas tells court sackings were always on the table

Counsel for Qantas, Richard Dalton KC, said even in a world where the illegal sackings never occurred, the executive team would have still considered outsourcing its ground handling operations.

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Mar 19
Gold Coast Airport envisions multi-use precinct in draft Master Plan

The airport, which currently sees more than 6.2 million passengers a year, expects that number to increase by around 13 million by 2044. Its draft Master Plan, available online, envisions a hub for communities in the Gold Coast and northern NSW, with a particular focus on the next eight years.

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Mar 19