Jake Nelson

Jones, previously Virgin’s chief customer and digital officer, was last month ruled out of the running to replace outgoing chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka after facing controversy over his role in the illegal outsourcing of Qantas ground workers during the pandemic.

Speaking at the Australian Institute of Company Directors’ Governance Summit on Tuesday, Mullen, who has led the Qantas board for around six months, said the airline’s aging fleet “should have been replaced earlier” and has led to a reputation for “crap” service.

The 14-day trip organised by Captain’s Choice, departing in February next year, will use a specially hired Qantas A330-300 to fly from Sydney to London on an “almost identical flight path to the one Qantas first wholly operated in 1947”.

The captain of QF505, which was operating from Brisbane to Sydney aboard VH-VXI, experienced chest pains en route and requested a defibrillator, which was ultimately not used. The aircraft declared a medical PAN call and safely touched down in Sydney after being given a priority landing.

Three CH-47F medium-lift helicopters from 5th Aviation Regiment had arrived in Oakey, near Toowoomba in South-East Queensland, as of Tuesday morning, having flown from Townsville on Saturday via Rockhampton.

As reported in the Sydney Morning Herald, the S-70A Black Hawks have not yet been approved by CASA to carry non-military passengers, meaning they could not be used to fly firefighters and other emergency personnel to disaster zones and could only be used as water bombers.