Qantas is on its way back to San Francisco for the first time since 2011 after flight QF 73 took off from Sydney Airport on Friday afternoon. The Boeing 747-400ER operating the flight, VH-OEG, departed from the NSW capital a little after 1510 local time. The airline’s return to the Bay Area for the first time since 2011 kicks off a new joint-venture partnership between Qantas and Ameri...
Perth Airport is in the market for a new chief executive after announcing incumbent Brad Geatches will leave the company on July 1 2016. Colin Beckett, the chairman of Perth Airport, said it was the right time for a change at the top and a global search for a new chief executive was underway. “The next cycle of major capital investment and commercial discussions with airlines will comm...
Australia’s three east coast capital city airports all posted healthy increases both domestic and international passenger numbers in November. Melbourne Airport said international travellers rose 9.9 per cent to 728,212 at Tullamarine in November, compared with the prior corresponding period, as airlines such as Air China, China Eastern, China Southern and Philippine Airlines added extra...
Perth is among five cities set to receive Etihad Airways’ first batch of two-class Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners due for delivery from May 2016. While the initial deliveries of 787-9s to Etihad featured eight first, 28 business and 199 economy seats for a total of 235, the Abu Dhabi-based carrier is introducing in 2016 five two-class versions of the Dreamliner configured with 299 seats compris...
Budget-conscious air travellers may have a little more to spend on Christmas presents this December with domestic ticket prices well down from where they were a year ago. However, those looking for seats at the pointy end of the aircraft may have to fork out a little more cash to enjoy all the luxuries of business class this holiday season. The Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regiona...
Qantas is adding further capacity to Asia from April 2016 with an extra three flights a week between Melbourne and Singapore. The new services arise from Airbus A330s being freed up from the upgauging of three Melbourne-Hong Kong flights from the Airbus twin to Boeing 747s and continues Qantas’s renewed push into Asia in recent times. It will give Qantas 10 flights a week between the Vict...
Sydney has welcomed a new Airbus A380 operator with the start of Korean Air’s seasonal service with the double decker superjumbo. The Skyteam alliance member is operating the A380 to the NSW capital over summer, with the aircraft to feature on the Seoul (Incheon)-Sydney route from December 1 to March 26 2016. Korean Air usually flies either the Airbus A330 or Boeing 777 aircraft to Syd...
Qantas expects to more than double its underlying profit before tax in the first half of 2015/16 as the airline group benefits from lower fuel prices, its cost reduction program and improved revenue. The company has forecast underlying profit before tax, the airline’s preferred measure of financial performance, to be between $875 million and $925 million for the six months to December 31...
A Royal Air Force Airbus A400M Atlas has made a flying visit to Australia. A400M ZM406 arrived in Cairns from Bander Seri Begawan on December 10 and then flew to Hobart via Sydney on December 12. On December 13 the A400M then departed Hobart for Darwin. The visit is believed to be the first to Australia by an RAF A400M, and the second A400M visit to Australia after a French air...
A Jetstar Airbus A320-200, registration VH-VFV performing flight JQ-127 from Adelaide, SA (Australia) to Denpasar Bali (Indonesia), was enroute at FL340 about 540nm northnorthwest of Adelaide,SA over central Australia when the crew decided to turn back to Adelaide due to the failure of one of the hydraulic systems. The aircraft descended to FL250 for the flight back and landed safely back in Adela...
Star Wars fans and aviation enthusiasts are in for a treat on the weekend, when ANA’s inaugural Tokyo (Haneda) – Sydney service touches down in the NSW capital. The Japanese flag carrier will fly its Star Wars-themed 787-9 Dreamliner for the first flight. NH879, which is due to touch down at 0935 local time Saturday morning. And should sleepyheads miss the landing or fail to...
Singapore Airlines (SIA) chief executive Goh Choon Phong will step down as a Virgin Australia director on New Year’s Day. His replacement is SIA’s current alternate director on the board Marvin Tan, who is the Singapore-based carrier’s senior vice president for cabin crew, Virgin said in a statement on Thursday. No reason was given for the decision to step down. Goh was...
