Jake Nelson

The weekly 737 flights, which depart Brisbane on Saturdays and return from Koror on Sundays, began in December last year, with Qantas taking over from Nauru Airlines under contract with the Australian government.

Speaking exclusively to Australian Aviation, Milne – who bought East Air after leaving Skytrans, now SmartLynx Australia, earlier this year – said the carrier’s first route from Cairns to Hamilton Island is only the beginning, with plans to become “a dominant player in the regional market” in Queensland.

The first Malaysia A330neo touched down in Sydney on Monday, with the new aircraft to operate on both daily Sydney–Kuala Lumpur flights and a third to begin on 30 August. This will bring Sydney’s Kuala Lumpur capacity to 630,000 seats per year, the highest of any airport in Australia.

The carrier, one of China’s “Big Four”, will ramp up from seven to 10 weekly Brisbane flights on 17 November, then 14 from 15 December to 22 February, before scaling back to 11 until 2 March. The extra services will be operated by the airline’s A350 aircraft.

Community consultation is underway for the runway’s noise amelioration project, and initial construction work is also about to begin. It comes after the Federal Government last year approved the long-awaited proposal.

The 1967 Piper Cherokee PA-28-140, VH-BUN, made an emergency landing on the 15th hole of Mona Vale Golf Course at around 2pm on Sunday, having flown north from Shellharbour via Camden. The pilot and passenger, both 50 years old, safely exited the heavily damaged plane.