Jake Nelson

The Australian Services Union (ASU), which represents thousands of Qantas check-in, call centre, and freight operations workers, will open the electronic ballot on Thursday to coincide with the national carrier’s full-year results, with voting to run until 3 September.

The new regional jet, snapped in an Embraer hangar in Brazil, is set to bear the registration VH-E2A and the name “Coral Bay”, and is expected to touch down in Australia in early September.

Run in conjunction with not-for-profit Travellers Aid, the Melbourne Airport Assist service will provide buggies and powered wheelchairs to help travellers with disabilities navigate the airport, and will run seven days a week between 6am and 10pm starting next month.

Rotor-Lift, which has operated the Westpac rescue and Ambulance Tasmania helicopters in the state for around 25 years, said it was blindsided by the Tasmanian government’s decision to award a $354 million, 12-year contract to interstate operator StarFlight.

Both mainline Qantas pilots and Jetstar pilots are required to be clean-shaven on duty, with Qantas recently looking to extend this mandate to regional arm QantasLink; pilots, however, have criticised the move, which cites a study conducted for Qantas by consultancy firm QinetiQ.

StarFlight, a joint venture between Fox Group Holdings and LifeFlight Australia, will begin Tasmanian services on 12 January 2026, taking over from current contractor Rotor-Lift Aviation, which has provided aeromedical and search-and-rescue flights in the state for almost 25 years.