The regional carrier will no longer stop at Orange en route between Sydney and Parkes on morning and evening flights from 21 June to 15 August, though midday services will continue. It follows a Rex Saab 340B being forced to turn back to Sydney last week due to safety concerns.

Opened on Sunday, the $312 million interchange at Cecil Hills will allow “seamless connections” from the Westlink M7 motorway onto the new M12, which serves WSI and the Bradfield “aerotropolis”. It comes after the majority of the M12 opened in March.

Australia had previously announced the acquisition of four MC‑55A aircraft to deliver critical intelligence in real time, strengthen the country's monitoring of strategic maritime approaches, and integrate with allied and partner systems, including the US and the UK.

The research, published this month, found different types of price shocks have “very different effects” on domestic airfares in Australia, ranging from little effect at all to higher prices across the board, or separate impacts on different fare classes.

The carrier has 10 firm orders for the MAX 10, a larger variant of its existing 737 MAX 8 fleet, and is expecting the first in late 2027 “based on manufacturer Boeing’s positive progress with US regulatory approvals”.

The carrier, which currently operates three A320-200s inherited from former low-cost arm Tigerair, has been gradually phasing out the aircraft type to simplify its fleet, with Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (VARA) jet operations being taken over by Boeing 737s and the new Embraer E190-E2s.