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Australia aviation news

Chester new minister responsible for aviation, Tehan takes charge of defence materiel

Aviation could receive greater ministerial attention in the federal government after the appointment of Nationals MP Darren Chester as Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Chester, the Member for Gippsland, a former journalist and currently Assistant Minister for Defence, was named as the new minister with responsibility for aviation as part of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s...

Government approves Gold Coast Airport redevelopment

Gold Coast Airport has received the green light to begin construction on new aircraft stands and aerobridges as well as a terminal upgrade. The federal government on Friday gave its approval for the airport to start work on the airport redevelopment, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2017 and will cater for the forecast increase in visitors to the Gold Coast in 2018, when the city...

Alliance wins new Santos contract

Alliance Airlines has signed a new five-year contract with Santos covering the oil and gas company’s operations in South Australia. As part of the new deal, Alliance will start jet services from Adelaide to Santos’ oil and gas operations in the Cooper Basin. “The initial requirement is for Alliance to operate between 10 and 16 services per week in its own right and to...

Virgin Australia to remove five Embraer E190s from fleet, reaffirms guidance for full year profit

Virgin Australia says it plans to work its fleet harder in calendar 2016 after announcing the withdrawal of five Embraer E190s, as the airline group reaffirmed a return to profitability for the full 2015/16 financial year. The 98-seat E190 fleet will be reduced to 13, from 18 currently, by September 2016, Virgin said in its 2015/16 first half financial results on Thursday. The E190 disposals...

US DOT nearing decision on Qantas-American alliance

The US Department of Transportation looks to be nearing a decision on Qantas and American Airlines’ application to expand their existing alliance on trans-Pacific routes. While the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and New Zealand government have both given the tie-up the green light, the US DOT is still reviewing the application and in November 2015 asked the two carr...

Less than a year to go to meet ADS-B mandate

More than a thousand aircraft and helicopters have less than a year to comply with the Australian government’s ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast) mandate. The current mandates require all flights operating under instrument flight rules (IFR) to have ADS-B, which is a satellite-based technology enabling aircraft to be accurately tracked by air traffic controllers an...

Virgin posts second quarter profit

Virgin Australia says improving yield and revenue growth in the key domestic market has led to a strong rise in second quarter profit. The company said on Thursday statutory net profit for the three months to December 31 2015 came in at $60.8 million, a significant increase from $11.3 million in the prior corresponding period. The result was Virgin’s second consecutive quarterly profit...

Australian airports rank highly in on-time performance: report

Adelaide maintained its position as the Australian airport with the highest percentage of on-time arrivals and departures in 2015, while Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne all improved their performance compared with the previous year, figures from flight data and aviation consultancy OAG show. The OAG Punctuality League report found Japanese airports led the way in terms of punctuality during 2015...

Qantas frequent flyer expands points-earning options for its members

Qantas has further expanded the range of points-earning opportunities for its ever-growing frequent flyer membership base through a new partnership with Vodafone. The tie-up allows Qantas’s frequent flyer members to earn points on eligible Vodafone mobile plans, while Vodafone will sell prepaid products on board some of the Flying Kangaroo’s international flights. The Vodafone in...

Tigerair counts down to new Bali service

Tigerair Australia chief executive Rob Sharp says events such as the volcanic ash cloud and Jakarta terrorist attacks have not dampened demand for the low-cost carrier’s proposed Bali flights due to kick off in March.   The Virgin Australia-owned airline has completed the reconfiguration and repainting of the first of three Boeing 737-800s, VH-VUB, that will be used to operate Ade...

China Southern begins new Sydney-Shenzhen service

China Southern has boosted its presence in the local market with a new Sydney-Shenzhen service that opens a new gateway to Australia from one of China’s stronger economic regions The inaugural flight, CZ3071, took off a little after 1930 local time in Shenzhen on Wednesday, with the Airbus A330-300 B-6501 touching down just before 0800 in Sydney on Thursday. The aircraft was on the gro...

Minister unveils first Bombardier Challenger jets for AMSA

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Warren Truss has unveiled the first batch of Bombardier Challenger CL 604 twin-jets which will replace Aerorescue Dorniers for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s (AMSA) operations. On Wednesday, Truss inspected the first of four Bombardier Challenger CL 604, which was currently being fitted for sea...