United’s improved on-board offering and the use of Boeing 787-9s on all Australian and New Zealand services will ensure the airline remains competitive amid new carriers and new services in the market, a senior executive from the airline says. The Australia-US market is currently in a period of expansion, with American Airlines commencing its own flights from Sydney to Los Angeles in...
The RAAF is on track to have as many as half a dozen female fast jet fighter pilots in time to fly the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter when it enters service early next decade, Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Leo Davies has said. Currently there is one woman training to become a fast jet pilot in the RAAF on the Hawk lead-in fighter jet trainer with 76 Squadron, with a second due to begin fast jet tra...
American Airlines and Qantas says Hawaiian Airlines is “virtually alone” in its objection to their joint-venture alliance on trans-Pacific routes and rejected calls for the US Department of Transportation (DOT) to place conditions on their proposed tie-up. American and Qantas’s application for anti-trust immunity is currently before the US DOT, which said in February its revie...
Akbar Al Baker is very controversial figure in aviation. Don’t take Australian Aviation’s word of it, that’s the opinion of none other than the man himself. Introduced as “His Excellency”, Al Baker fronted journalists and other invited guests at a swanky Sydney hotel on Thursday to talk up the start of Qatar’s new daily service to Sydney, which touched d...
Community and Public Sector Union considering rolling airport strikes over the Easter holidays ‘if the government continues with their attack on workplace rights’. Easter travel plans could be thrown into chaos with Border Force and immigration department staff at international airports across Australia to take strike action on the eve of Good Friday. The Community and Public Sec...
AN UNUSUAL odour has been blamed for the hasty landing of a plane carrying almost 70 people at Melbourne Airport this morning. The Tigerair A320 aircraft, flight TT511 from Brisbane, made a priority landing just after 10am. The source of the smell, which the crew reported in the cockpit cabin, will now be investigated. Paramedics assessed four people at the scene. Those treated did not...
Thai Airways looks set to the be second Airbus A350 operator to Australia with flights to Melbourne scheduled to feature the next generation widebody from July. A report from the Airline Route website said the Star Alliance member opened reservations for its Bangkok-Melbourne service with the A350 over the weekend. Currently, Thai flies twice daily between Melbourne and Bangkok with Boe...
A second ratings agency has lifted its assessment of Qantas stock back to investment grade, sending the airline’s stock up more than one per cent in afternoon trade on a flat day for the broader market. Ratings agency Moody’s on Monday upgraded its senior unsecured ratings of Qantas to “Baa3” from “Ba1”, restoring an investment-grade rating that was lost afte...
Australia’s competition watchdog has given final approval to Qantas’s partnership with American Airlines on trans-Pacific routes. The green light from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) leaves the two oneworld alliance members waiting for the US Department of Transportation (DOT) to hand down its decision on the tie-up. The ACCC said in a statement on Thurs...
The union representing Qantas pilots believes the airline’s decision to start hiring pilots again is just the “tip of the iceberg”, given the improved performance of the Flying Kangaroo. Qantas on Tuesday said it planned to hire 170 new pilots over the next three years, as it prepared to introduce the Boeing 787-9 to the fleet from the 2017/18 financial year. The Australian...
Regional Express (Rex) has swung to a rare first half loss due to impairment charges relating to the end of a Defence contract. The company reported a statutory net loss of $11.4 million for the six months to December 31 2015, compared with net profit of $3.9 million in the prior corresponding period. Rex said in a statement on Wednesday it was the airline group’s first statutory net loss...
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has delivered a bumper 2015/16 first half profit, with the Flying Kangaroo’s international operations “going gangbusters” as the lower currency fuels demand for travel into Australia and alliance partners funnel passengers onto a domestic network that is also reporting strong profit growth. The airline group reported statutory net profit after...
