Jake Nelson

The latest BITRE data showed that 81.9 per cent of Qantas and QantasLink flights took off on time, and 80.1 per cent arrived on time in March, compared to 78.7 per cent and 77.7 per cent, respectively, for Virgin Australia and VARA, though Virgin continued its lead in completion rates at 98.2 per cent.

The changes, to come into effect from 9 July, will affect all flights in the Sydney area, including from Sydney Kingsford Smith, WSI, and Bankstown Airport. The new flight paths were developed in conjunction with Airservices Australia, and were approved last year.

The 5,000-square-metre facility, supported by an extra 4,000 square metres of surrounding land, will eventually be able to handle around 60,000 tonnes per year. It comes as the first cargo flights are slated to arrive at WSI from July, with passenger flights to start in October at the latest.

The newly-opened 78,000-square-metre Brisbane facility can process up to 250,000 parcels per day, while the 12,000-square-metre Hobart centre, set to open adjacent to the airport in 2027, will be able to sort up to 6,000 parcels per hour.

Qantas Group and Virgin Australia are discounting more than 3.5 million airfares between them in major domestic sales, with Justin Brownjohn, senior manager at RMIT Aviation Academy, saying the carriers are aiming to reshuffle capacity and offset losses.

Part of Launceston’s major terminal upgrade program, the project will see the construction of a new boarding gate, as well as a “complete renovation and modernisation” of Gates 3 and 4, and a 600-square-metre expansion of the gate area.