Virgin Australia says the airline group is on track for a full year profit despite a forecast second half loss amid weak demand in its key domestic market that has prompted capacity cuts focused on regional routes. The company reported a statutory loss after tax of $58.8 million for the three months to March 31, compared with $28.3 million loss in the prior corresponding period. Virgin said the...
The A380 superjumbo that flew almost empty. I thought the days of chancing a half-empty international flight were grounded for good once computers replaced humans in making sure aeroplane seats were filled. But the gods who look after economy passengers smiled down on us on Wednesday last week when Qantas flight QF93 developed a bit of tummy trouble, putting its 9.30am departure from Melbour...
A QANTAS plane bound for Perth was grounded in Melbourne on Saturday night for hours after a terror threat email was apparently sent to passengers. Up to 50 passengers disembarked after the security scare. Flight QF481 was due to take off at 6.50pm, but a middle-aged Perth woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said it was delayed after a few passengers received an email threat about the flig...
Captain Debbie Slade has been a Qantas pilot for 27 years and counting. During that time, she has gone to work in a uniform that, while functional and practical, was never really designed for women pilots. All that will change from October, when Slade will head into the flightdeck of the Airbus A330s she currently flies for Qantas in a new uniform from Australian designer Martin Grant t...
Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd plans to keep its Airbus Group long-haul A380 aircraft in service beyond 2020, when many will be around 10 years old, a senior executive said, even as it conducts talks with Airbus rival Boeing Co on the latter's next-generation B777X jets. "The A380s do a great job on the markets that they operate," said Gareth Evans, head of the...
Quickstep Holdings says deliveries of vertical tail components for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter project are expected to begin by the end of June. The Australian manufacturer says the qualification process for the vertical tail fairings components, vertical tail spars and vertical tail skins have been approved. “Following completion of qualification for vertical tail fairings component...
War planes have taken to the skies above Caboolture, north of Brisbane, to highlight the role of Australian aviators this Anzac Day long weekend. Seven World War I planes went on show with aerial manoeuvres, complete with gunners standing up in the rear. The event, hosted at the Caboolture Airfield by the Australian Vintage Aviation Society, wants to highlight Australia's little-known in...
This week Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand held a conference with the biofuel industry after joining forces to investigate options for locally produced biojet fuel for their domestic and international routes. This striking step signals the two airlines’ intention to aggregate their purchasing power in order to reduce their reliance on a single fuel, while at the same time significantl...
Australia’s two largest airports posted strong passenger growth in March as more international travellers pour into the country. At Melbourne Tullamarine, international passengers were up 7.3 per cent in March at 763,848, compared with the prior corresponding period. The March figures represented seven straight years of international passenger growth at Melbourne. Melbourne Airport...
The Royal Australian Flying Doctor Service Queensland Section (RFDS Qld) will train its Beechcraft King Air pilots at a flight simulator facility on the Sunshine Coast. The Beechcraft King Air 350i flight simulator, which is convertible to a B200 full flight simulator, is a partnership between Universal Training Systems (UTS) and Ansett Aviation Training Australasia and is expected to be fully...
Qantas’s shares have tumbled sharply after the airline group announced putting a brake on domestic growth in response to weaker-than-expected demand. On the domestic front, Qantas said it would cut capacity in the three months to June 30 2016, compared with the prior corresponding period, in response to the airline posting negative revenue per available seat kilometre (RASK – an ind...
Newcastle Airport has been closed and flights cancelled after a sudden deluge of water caused a partial collapse of the roof on Sunday afternoon. At around 1pm, shortly before the Bureau of Meteorology issued a heavy rainfall warning for the Newcastle area, gutters in part of the Williamtown airport terminal were overwhelmed with water, causing a sec...
