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...
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 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 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 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...
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...
Regional Express (Rex), Qantas and Virgin Australia were among the most punctual domestic airlines in December, government statistics show. Qantas had the highest percentage of on-time arrivals in December, with 88.6 per cent of its domestic flights reaching their destination within 15 minutes of schedule. The figures from the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE...
The first Australian pilots to undertake conversion training on the Pilatus PC-21 pilot training aircraft recently arrived in Switzerland, the RAAF has announced. These pilots will form the transition team responsible for the development of the new training curriculum and simulators that are being acquired under the AIR 5428 Pilot Training System project, the contract for which has been awarded...
Gold Coast Airport has received the green light to install an Instrument Landing System (ILS) as part of efforts to reduce the number of missed approaches, diversions and delays due to weather. The ILS, which assists pilots on equipped aircraft with a precise radio navigation aid, will be installed for flights landing from the north on Runway 14, which the airport has said previously is the dir...
The DC-10 Very Large Air Tanker (VLAT) firebomber Southern Belle has relocated from New South Wales to Avalon in Victoria. The DC-10, temporarily named Southern Belle for its deployment to Australia, had been based at RAAF Base Richmond, alongside an L-100-30 Hercules Large Air Tanker, after arriving in Australia in late September. “Now the risk is decreasing in the northern part of NS...
An Airbus A340 testbed is currently operating out of Darwin Airport in search of icing conditions in tropical thunderstorms as part of a flight test campaign to trial new technologies developed to detect icing conditions. A340-300 F-WWAI – in fact A340 MSN1, the original A340 flight test development aircraft, which first flew in October 1991 – arrived in Darwin on January 11 and is...
Virgin Australia has welcomed today’s announcement that Singapore Airlines will introduce direct international services from Canberra to Singapore and Wellington from September 2016. As part of the alliance between the two airlines, Virgin Australia will codeshare on Singapore Airlines flights between Canberra and Singapore, providing Virgin Australia customers with greater access to Asia...
