Jake Nelson

VH-XIX was conducting aerial spraying of herbicides near Boorowa, 50km east of Young Airport, on 4 December when radio contact with the pilot was lost 15 minutes after its 10th spraying run, the ATSB said in its preliminary report.

In a speech to the Committee for Economic Development Australia (CEDA) on Thursday, ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb noted that domestic airfares have increased following the reassertion of the Qantas-Virgin duopoly.

In total, more than 760,000 passengers travelled through Gold Coast, Townsville, Mount Isa and Longreach Airports last month, with Gold Coast alone accounting for more than 622,000 passengers.

The Kiwi carrier posted a net post-tax profit of NZ$106 million for the first half of the 2025 financial year off the back of NZ$155 million in pre-tax earnings, towards the upper end of its guidance from November 2024.

The OneSKY-CMATS system, which aims to unify air traffic management across Australia’s civil and military airspace, is slated to go live in the third quarter of 2027, with controllers to be trained on the new equipment starting in March next year.

The upgrades, expected to begin early this year, will allow the airport to handle larger aircraft such as QantasLink Dash 8 Q400s. Burnie is currently served by QantasLink, Rex, and Sharp Airlines flights.