Jake Nelson

The flight, which lifted off on Wednesday morning Australian time, successfully reached space unlike the explosions of both the seventh and eighth test flights shortly after liftoff earlier this year, following hardware adjustments by SpaceX prior to the flight.

As reported in The Australian, the national council of the TWU has resolved to work to secure a multi-employer agreement for ground crew, and to explore similar arrangements in other sectors. The news follows protest action by the TWU against working conditions at Swissport.

The low-cost carrier is upgauging from A320s to A321neo LRs on the route between June and October this year, which will add a total of 4,500 extra seats over the entire season. Melbourne is Townsville’s third busiest destination, with 90 per cent of seats full over last year’s winter.

The runway will be lengthened to allow larger aircraft, including Virgin Australia’s existing 737-800 service to Perth, to operate at full capacity. Currently, the 737 is limited to 146 passengers during the wet season and 158 during the dry season.

In an agreement reached with the US Department of Justice, Boeing – a major defence contractor – will not face a felony fraud trial over the crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 on 29 October 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on 10 March 2019, despite last year announcing it would plead guilty.

The firm, based at Sydney’s Bankstown Airport, says Vertiia will be able to fly up to 1,000km with its 100kW hydrogen fuel cell powertrain. AMSL Aero has used more than 200kg of hydrogen in its functional test bed since it began trials in mid-2024.