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Virgin Australia has announced it will end its direct services between Los Angeles and Melbourne, and will increase its four services a week between LAX and Brisbane to a daily service. The airline will cease its Melbourne services on October 25, and will start the daily Brisbane flight the next day. This content is available exclusively

Airbus’A350 XWB MSN001 prototype has successfully conducted its Maximum Energy Rejected Take-Off (MERTO) tests. Conducted at the French government’s Istres test facility near Marseille on July 19, the MERTO tests were a follow-on from the previous ‘High Energy Rejected Take-Off’ (HERTO) tests conducted in May, and are a mandatory element of the aircraft’s certification process.

Airservices has announced the appointment of Ms Mairi Barton as Executive General Manager, Corporate and Industry Affairs. An Airservices statement says Ms Barton has more than 20 years of communications and public affairs experience which spans state and federal government as well as the agricultural and financial services sectors, with her most recent position being

Development of the Finmeccanica-Alenia Aermacchi MC-27J ‘Praetorian’ gunship under the lead of ATK is progressing, with the prototype recently completing a first phase of ground and light tests at Eglin AFB in Florida. The MC-27J utilises a roll on-roll off palletised gun and mission control package for gunship missions, and retains an integral L-3 Wescam

Queensland Government Air has contracted Pilot Recruitment to provide recruitment services for the new organisation. Pilot Recruitment is a new joint-venture company comprised of Pinstripe Solutions and SimJET Training Systems. Queensland Government Air has tasked the new entity to find pilots for helicopters and fixed-wing roles in emergency, police, search & rescue, and counter disaster

Defence has released the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the flying operations of the new F-35A Lightning II fighter which is due to enter service in Australia from 2018. The extensive draft EIS is available here, and Defence is inviting members of the community to comment. This content is available exclusively to Australian Aviation members.