Jake Nelson

The low-cost carrier will add more than 140 new evening flights on the route, as well as upgrade more than 170 existing A320-200 services to A321s, increasing capacity by 14 per cent over 2024. In total, Jetstar will offer more than 350,000 Melbourne–Sunshine Coast seats in 2025.

The airport recorded 277,000 passengers last month, up from a pre-COVID-19 December high of 271,154 in 2019.

The low-cost carrier will fly three times per week starting 22 March, adding nearly 1,000 weekly seats on the resumed non-stop service.

The Dreamliner, A6-BLN, suffered tyre damage in the emergency stop on Sunday night and could not be immediately cleared from the runway, forcing it to close for around 14 hours. Aviation rescue firefighters were able to cool the landing gear with foam.

The 34-year-old pilot, as well as two tourists in their 60s believed to be from Switzerland and Denmark, died after their Cessna 208 Caravan 675, VH-WTY, reportedly crashed into a rocky outcrop on take-off and plunged into the ocean.

In NSW Supreme Court documents seen by the Sydney Morning Herald, the corporate and financial regulator has claimed that Rex’s then executive chairman, Lim Kim Hai, emailed fellow directors saying the airline had lost $7.2 million before tax in February 2023.