Year: 2023

Flight ZL379 on board the 737-800 VH-REX, which was due to arrive in Sydney at 9:05pm on Saturday, was rerouted to Canberra due to severe weather and touched down at 10:04pm before waiting on the apron until 10:40pm due to a gate reassignment.

Speaking to Australian Aviation for its latest cover feature, Kevin Elliott said, “I spent 14 years building my company and half a day dismantling it.”

The low-cost carrier was originally slated to begin flights from its third base on the Gold Coast to Darwin on 1 December; however, owing to delays in the regulatory approval for its wet-leasing agreement with sister Canadian airline Flair, the launch has been pushed back to 2 January.

The $30 million project, opening 5 December, combines the existing Novotel and Mercure airport hotels into a single resort with one reception area, as well as refurbished rooms, new villas, suites and bungalows, and a 60-metre swimming pool with children’s playground and poolside dining.

A Malaysia Airlines A330-300, 9M-MTL, and a Bamboo Airways 787-9, VN-A819, both overran the end of runway 16/34 during nighttime works 11 days apart in September this year. The runway at the time had only 2,089 metres available for take-off compared to the normal 3,657 metres.

The first flight, UA283 from LAX, touched down in Brisbane shortly after 5am on Friday on board the 787-9 Dreamliner N25982. The service will operate three times per week, bringing Brisbane’s capacity with the USA back above pre-pandemic levels.