Jake Nelson

Fares are now on sale from Sydney, Brisbane and Perth to Doha starting June 2025, with Melbourne coming later in the year. Virgin’s economy launch sale fares significantly undercut rivals Qantas and Emirates on some routes, including Perth-Paris and Brisbane-Rome, as reported by The Australian.

Virgin expects to fly nearly 500,000 seats per week across its domestic and short-haul international networks in the December–January holiday period, or up to 3,000 weekly flights.

In its newly-released RPAS and AAM Strategic Regulatory Roadmap, the aviation safety regulator said it expects the first commercial AAM operations, including “air taxi” passenger transport in urban areas, to be up and running between 2027 and 2029.

Currently operating three times per week on the 787-9 Dreamliner, the Narita service – which recommenced in October, two weeks ahead of schedule – was originally slated to end for the season in March 2025 but will now be a permanent fixture at the airport.

The corporate watchdog says the company – now in voluntary administration released a misleading ASX statement on 28 February 2023 saying it was “optimistic the Group will have positive operating profits for the full FY23 barring any further external shocks”, despite not having any reasonable basis for such a claim.

Liliana Goodson, now 30, was arrested in April 2023 after Border Force officers found the $3,000 pistol in her luggage, and will serve 12 months – four of them in full-time custody – after pleading guilty to illegally importing a firearm and ammunition.