Jake Nelson

Airports including Brisbane, Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast have all reopened to traffic, with Qantas Group and Virgin Australia both restarting flights to the region on Sunday after the danger from the storm passed. Alfred had made landfall as a tropical low on 8 March, causing severe flooding.

South Australian airports will receive almost $1.7 million in funding under the fourth round of the Regional Airports Program, while Burnie will receive $330,000. The grants bring the total from Round 4 to more than $25 million, following announcements for NSW, Victoria, Western Australia, and Queensland.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke on Sunday said he had written to a number of airports directing them to conduct safety assessments after a 17-year-old allegedly breached the security fence at Avalon armed with a shotgun and attempted to board a Jetstar flight on Thursday.

The storm is expected to hit the coastline at around 10am Queensland time on Saturday as a category 1 system, though heavy rain and wind have already left tens of thousands without power. Qantas and Virgin have announced Brisbane domestic flights are cancelled until at least Sunday.

The Dash 8-300, VH-TQM, ran through approximately seven lights at the edge of Mildura’s runway as it took off in the early hours of 25 February bound for Melbourne, the safety watchdog said.

Foran, who joined Air New Zealand in 2019, replaced former CEO Christopher Luxon, now the Prime Minister of New Zealand. He previously served as CEO of Walmart’s US operations and held senior positions at Woolworths in Australia.