Jake Nelson

The JQ165 service, on board the A320 VH-XSJ, is the first international flight to Hamilton Airport in 13 years. It touched down shortly after 11am on Monday and will operate four times per week, adding almost 75,000 seats per year.

Starting 1 July, Jetstar will introduce extra flights connecting the Victorian and Tasmanian capitals. While full details are still to be released, the low-cost carrier said it will bring around 50,000 additional seats to the route over the following six months.

The cause of the AI171 accident, which killed 241 people on board and more than 50 on the ground when the 787-8 crashed into a residential area in Ahmedabad shortly after take-off on Thursday, remains unknown, though one of the black boxes has been recovered.

Citing official BITRE data for the month, Airservices pointed to an average of 82 per cent on-time arrivals and on-time departures in April, as well as a cancellation rate of 2 per cent, in its latest Network Overview report for May 2025.

The Kiwi carrier will add more than 34,000 extra seats between Auckland and North America from October 2025 to March 2026, an 8 per cent increase in US and Canada capacity over the previous year, including a 15 per cent boost to premium seating.

Viswashkumar Ramesh, a 40-year-old British national, is believed to have escaped through an emergency exit after the 787-8 Dreamliner, VT-ANB, crashed shortly after take-off in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad. The plane had been operating flight AI171 to London Gatwick.