Jake Nelson

Sunshine Coast to Auckland and Cairns to Christchurch will be put on ice indefinitely from 24 October, as the routes are no longer commercially viable and operating costs have increased. The low-cost carrier will, however, resume Sydney–Christchurch from 26 October.

The $250 million project, located adjacent the runway and key road freight networks for quick runway-to-road access, will include purpose-built facilities for partners such as Menzies Aviation, Airway and dnata, building on existing tenancies like FedEx and DHL.

VH-8QE has arrived in Australia and will join the FIFO carrier’s base in Perth, with an expected start to commercial operations on 29 June.

Up to six weekly flights will resume from Essendon to King Island between October 2026 and the end of April 2027, with the airline also securing an Australia Post contract to provide mail services to and from the island for the next five years.

A total of 16 of the superjumbos, including 15 from Emirates as well as VH-OQI from Qantas, have been affected by a European Union Aviation Safety Agency airworthiness directive mandating inspections of their wing spar components.

The council voted on Monday, 22 June, to write off the outstanding debt owed by both carriers, a month after the federal government announced that 34 airports owed money to Rex would receive a total of $4.8 million through the Regional and Remote Airport Support Program.